JP2011108190A - Image reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reproducing apparatus that achieves retrieval using additional information even if a user does not know the content of the additional information added to a recorded image. <P>SOLUTION: A system control unit (24) displays the additional information of an image on an LCD display unit (22) when the user selects the image on a list screen. The user selects information to be used as a retrieval key from the displayed information, and instructs the system control unit to retrieve the image. The system control unit (24) retrieves the recorded image based on the retrieval key. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reproduction device.

JP-A-8-62754

  In recent years, in an imaging apparatus such as a digital video camera and a digital camera, information added to one piece of video information or image information is increasing due to high performance. For example, date and time information, position information by GPS, face recognition information, event information set by the user, recording format information, protection information, and user selection information specified by the user during playback.

  These additional information are grouped for each event information or each face recognition information at the time of reproduction, for example, and are used for reproduction for each group.

  Further, when backing up recorded video information to another recording medium, there are cases where the recorded video information is backed up collectively by recording date or video scenes selected by the user. Thus, in accordance with demand, a device for preparing a grouping key or menu for each additional information element and facilitating backup in groups by a user has been commercialized.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes a configuration that can list additional information about the entire recorded video.

  In the prior art, in order to effectively use the grouping screen prepared according to the additional information, the user must know the type of the additional information in advance.

  In a configuration in which a dedicated key or menu is prepared for each element of the additional information, the number of dedicated keys and the like increase with the increase of elements, and the operation screen becomes complicated.

  With the method described in Patent Literature 1, it is impossible to look down on the entire video information having desired additional information.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image reproducing apparatus that solves such problems and improves the searchability of a user.

  An image reproduction apparatus according to the present invention is an image reproduction apparatus for reproducing an image and additional information added to the image, the image selecting means for selecting an image, and the additional information of the image selected by the image selecting means. Additional information selection means for selecting the image, image search means for searching for an image related to the additional information selected by the additional information selection means, and storage means for storing the image searched by the image search means as group information. It is characterized by having.

  An image reproduction apparatus according to the present invention is an image reproduction apparatus that reproduces an image and additional information added to the image, and is selected by a first image selection unit that selects an image and the first image selection unit. First additional information selecting means for selecting additional information of the image, first image searching means for searching for an image related to the additional information selected by the first additional information selecting means, and the first image searching means From the search results of the second image selection means for selecting the selected image, the second additional information selection means for selecting the additional information of the image selected by the second image selection means, and the search result of the first image search means, And 2nd image search means for searching for an image related to the additional information selected by the additional information selection means.

  According to the present invention, image information can be searched using additional information added to the image information selected by the user as a search key, so that it is possible to search using additional information without knowing the content of the additional information. . Search key setting is also easy.

It is a schematic block diagram of one Example of this invention. It is an example of a thumbnail list display screen displayed in the playback mode. It is an example of a thumbnail list display screen on which additional information is displayed. It is an example of a grouping screen for a “travel” event. It is an example of a grouping screen for shooting dates. It is a flowchart of additional information display. It is a flowchart of selection of additional information display. It is a search result list example. It is another grouping screen example. 10 is a flowchart of additional information display corresponding to FIG. 9. 10 is a flowchart of selection of additional information display corresponding to FIG. 9.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a digital video camera which is an example of an image reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

  Reference numeral 10 denotes a camera unit for performing photographing. The video signal from the camera unit 10 is temporarily stored in the video SDRAM 12, then added with information such as shooting information, and further compressed and recorded in the media recording unit 14.

  In the reproduction mode, the media recording unit 14 expands the recorded video information, extracts necessary information, and temporarily stores it in the video SDRAM 12. On the other hand, the image superimposing data creation unit 16 creates superimposing data for displaying information during reproduction. The data for superimposition includes character display of information taken into the video SDRAM 12. The created superimposition data is stored in the superimposition data SDRAM 18 and read out to the image composition unit 20 at an appropriate timing. The image composition unit 20 synthesizes the superimposition data from the superimposition data SDRAM 18 with the video information from the video SDRAM 12. The LCD display unit 22 displays the image synthesized by the image synthesis unit 20.

  The system control unit 24 controls each unit for these recording / reproducing operations. The user can input various instructions to the system control unit 24 using the operation switch unit 26. The system control unit 24 functions as an image selection unit, an additional information selection unit, an image search unit, and a storage unit.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a recording scene list screen in the playback mode. As recording scene information, 15 thumbnail images are displayed in the center of the screen. The user can select these thumbnail images with the cursor on the figure. The number of recorded scenes displayed on one screen is 15 scenes. If there are 15 or more scenes, the user can update the previous thumbnail image in units of 15 by moving the cursor to the upper left of the screen and further moving the cursor to the left. Further, if the cursor is moved to the lower right and the cursor is further moved to the right, the thumbnail image can be updated to the back in 15 sheets.

  When the battery is driven, the remaining battery level is displayed in the upper right of the screen. The shooting date and time of the scene where the cursor is currently displayed is displayed in the lower left of the screen. On the left side of the lower right total scene, the number of scenes in which the scene where the cursor is currently positioned is viewed from all scenes is displayed.

  In this state, the user can check the shooting date, relative scene number, and total scene number as additional information about the currently selected scene. When the user needs more additional information, the operation control unit 26 instructs the system control unit 24 to display detailed additional information. In response to this instruction, as shown in FIG. 3, additional information of the scene where the cursor is placed is displayed in a balloon. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the additional information is from a user setting event (category name “travel”), shooting date / time information, recording mode (recording mode at a recording rate called SP), and face detection information (face icon). Become. The user can select any of the additional information, “Travel”, “Shooting Date / Time”, “SP”, and “Face Icon”. With any selection, the screen shifts to a grouping screen for the entire scene that matches the selected additional information.

  As the additional information, any one of a scene mode, selection information such as “favorite” added by the user, protection information, image recognition information other than a face, GPS information, and voice recognition information may be displayed. Additional information to be displayed can be selected separately by the user through a menu or the like.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a grouping screen for scenes grouped in a “travel” event when “travel” is selected. When the screen shown in FIG. 4 is entered, the cursor is placed on the scene selected immediately before entering the screen in the thumbnail screen displayed slightly below the center. It is possible to see the contents of the scenes before and after moving left and right.

  The other displays will be described in order from the top. A title indicating the grouping screen of the “travel” event that is the search source is displayed on the upper left of the screen. The portion of “Travel” in this title can be changed by the user, and it is possible to shift to a grouping screen by another event.

  Below that, information about all the grouped screens is displayed. In the “TOTAL” column, the total playback time of the grouped scenes is displayed, and the total storage capacity is displayed below the total playback time.

  In the “NOW” column under “TOTAL”, information about the scene where the cursor is currently placed is displayed. In other words, the playback start time viewed from the grouped scenes, the relative scene number, and the total number of scenes of the grouped scenes are displayed. Below that, the storage capacity up to the scene where the cursor is currently located and the shooting date and time are displayed.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a grouping screen of scenes grouped by shooting date when shooting date / time is selected. When the screen shown in FIG. 5 is entered, the cursor is placed in the scene selected immediately before entering the screen in the thumbnail screen displayed at the bottom of the screen. It is possible to check the contents of the preceding and following scenes by moving left and right.

  The other displays will be described in order from the top. The shooting date of the search source is displayed as the title on the upper left of the screen. The shooting date of this title can be changed by the user, and it is possible to shift to a grouping screen by another date and time.

  In the upper right of the screen, information on the entire scene shot on the shooting date that is currently grouped is displayed. In the “TOTAL” column, the total playback time of the grouped scenes is displayed, and the total storage capacity is displayed below the total playback time.

  In the “NOW” column under “TOTAL”, information about the scene where the cursor is currently placed is displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the playback start time viewed from the grouped scenes, the storage capacity up to the scene where the cursor is currently located, the relative scene number, and the total number of scenes of the grouped scenes are displayed. Relative image numbers may be used instead of relative scene numbers, and the total number of images may be used instead of the total number of scenes. The shooting time is displayed above the thumbnail image where the cursor is placed.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a display process for displaying additional information shown in FIG. First, a balloon display corresponding to the position of the selected scene is performed (S1). It is determined whether or not event information is added (S2). If it is added (S2), the event type is acquired (S3) and the event type is displayed (S4).

  It is determined whether or not date / time information is added (S5). If it is added, date / time information is acquired (S6) and displayed (S7).

  It is determined whether there is recording mode information (S8), and if there is, the type of recording mode is determined (S9) and displayed (S10).

  It is determined whether there is face recognition information (S11), and if it exists, a face icon is displayed (S12).

  A cursor display process for selecting additional information is performed (S13), and the process ends.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processing up to the display of the additional information shown in FIG. 3 until the user selects additional information and performs grouping screen display processing.

  The selection of event information (S21), shooting date information (S24), recording mode information (S27), and face recognition information (S30) by the user is monitored.

  When event information is selected (S21), the type of event information (here "travel") is acquired (S22), and the acquired information is set as a key (S23). When the shooting date information is selected (S24), the shooting date information is acquired (S25) and set as a key (S26). When the recording mode information is selected (S27), the recording mode information is acquired (S28), and the recording mode information is set as a search key (S29). When face recognition information is selected (S30), the face recognition information is acquired (S31), and the face recognition information is set as a key (S32).

  After S23, S26, S29, and S32, the additional information added to the first recorded image information is searched using the set search key (S33). If there is matching information (S34), information about the image is added to the search result list (S35). Until additional information added to all image information is searched (S36), the search within the additional information (S37) and the addition to the search result list when there is matching information (S34, S35) are repeated. The generated search result list indicates group information of scenes or images grouped by the search using the search key.

  FIG. 8 is an example of a search result list used in FIG. The system control unit 24 stores the category (in this case, “event”) of the additional information that has been searched and the type (in this case, “travel”). Thereafter, the system control unit 24 searches for additional information, and stores group information regarding images corresponding to the additional information type “travel”. What is stored is, for example, the image information name, shooting date / time, recording mode, face recognition information, storage capacity, and playback time. More generally, the group information is either the total playback time of the searched images, the number of images and the total storage capacity, and the playback start time of the selected image in the searched images, relative position information, and One of the relative storage capacities of the selected scene in the search image is included. In the search result screen examples shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, information based on the search result list recorded here is displayed.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the operation in the case of performing a narrowing search will be described. At this time, the system control unit 24 includes a first image selection unit, a second image selection unit, a first additional information selection unit, a second additional information selection unit, a first image search unit, and a second image search. Means and storage means.

  FIG. 9 is an example of a grouping screen that is shifted to the screen shown in FIG. 3 when “Face” is set. At the time of transition to the screen shown in FIG. 9, the cursor is placed on the thumbnail image immediately before transition to this screen.

  In FIG. 9, the same information as the other grouping is displayed, but the upper left title and the face recognition target change portion are different. In the title, a character string “Travel>” indicating that a search is further performed from an event search of “Travel”, and a character string “Face Catch” indicating face recognition information as further narrowed down information are written together. Furthermore, it is indicated by the notation of “A child” and the central face information that the face recognition information of the person indicated by “A child” is the target. The face recognition target “child A” can be changed to face information of another person by the user. In this case, the search result in the search result of the event “travel” is reflected as in the search screen of “A child”.

  FIG. 10 is a display processing flowchart for displaying additional information shown in FIG. First, a balloon display corresponding to the position of the selected scene is performed (S41). It is determined whether date / time information has been added (S42). If date / time information has been added, date / time information is acquired (S43) and displayed (S44). It is determined whether there is recording mode information (S45), and if there is, the type of recording mode is determined (S46) and displayed (S47). It is determined whether there is face recognition information (S48), and if it exists, a face icon is displayed (S49). Thereafter, a cursor display process for selecting additional information is performed (S50), and the process ends.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a process before the user selects additional information and performs a grouping screen display process for the additional information display as shown in FIG.

  The selection of shooting date information (S61), recording mode information (S64) and shooting date information (S67) is monitored. When shooting date / time information is selected (S61), shooting date information is acquired (S62) and set as a search key (S63). When the recording mode information is selected (S64), the recording mode information is acquired (S65) and set as a search key (S66). When face recognition information is selected (S67), face recognition information (name data and face recognition information of "A child" here) is acquired (S68) and set as a search key (S69).

  After steps S63, S66, and S69, the additional information added to the first image information in the group is searched with the set search key (S70). If there is matching information (S71), information about the image is added to the search result list (S72). Until additional information added to all image information is searched (S73), the search within the additional information (S74) and the addition to the search result list when there is matching information (S71, S72) are repeated.

  By performing the above processing, it is possible to perform a narrow search and improve the degree of freedom of search.

14 Media recording unit 20 Image composition unit 22 LCD display unit 24 System control unit

Claims (6)

An image reproduction apparatus for reproducing an image and additional information added to the image,
Image selection means for selecting an image;
Additional information selection means for selecting additional information of the image selected by the image selection means;
Image search means for searching for an image related to the additional information selected by the additional information selection means;
An image reproducing apparatus comprising: storage means for storing the image searched by the image search means as group information. An image reproduction apparatus for reproducing an image and additional information added to the image,
First image selection means for selecting an image;
First additional information selection means for selecting additional information of the image selected by the first image selection means;
First image search means for searching for an image related to the additional information selected by the first additional information selection means;
Second image selection means for selecting an image searched by the first image search means;
Second additional information selection means for selecting additional information of the image selected by the second image selection means;
An image reproducing apparatus comprising: second image search means for searching for an image related to the additional information selected by the second additional information selection means from the search result of the first image search means.   3. The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the group information.   4. The image reproduction apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the group information includes at least one thumbnail image of an image searched by the image search unit and an image searched by the image selection unit.   The group information includes any one of the total reproduction time of the searched images, the number of images and the total storage capacity, the reproduction start time of the selected image in the searched image, the relative position information, and the selected scene in the search image. 5. The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image reproducing apparatus includes any one of the relative storage capacities.   The additional information is any one of recording mode information, shooting date / time information, event information, scene mode, selection information added by a user, protect information, image information name, GPS information, and voice recognition information. The image reproducing device according to claim 1, wherein

Images