JP4920492B2 - Imaging device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, an image providing system, and an image providing method for providing image information obtained by photographing to a predetermined recipient.

  In recent years, it has become easier to digitize image information obtained by an imaging device and send it to another person or receive image information obtained by another person's imaging device, even in the era of film cameras. ing. However, for such transmission and reception of image information, it is necessary to provide special communication means in the imaging apparatus, or even if communication means are provided, various settings such as designation of a communication partner are troublesome. In fact, there are many barriers to dissemination.

As a proposal for easily transmitting and receiving such image information, Patent Document 1 recognizes device address information for uniquely identifying a device to be transmitted from image information obtained by capturing device address information. The device to be transmitted is specified from the device address information. In Patent Document 2, the transmission target of image information is specified by photographing two-dimensional pattern information indicating the transmission target of image information.
JP 2003-169187 A JP 2005-110125 A

  Here, if the transmission setting at the time of transmitting image information is simplified, there is an increased risk that image information transmitted to the outside such as a server will be seen by others. Therefore, if possible, it is preferable to increase the safety of image information transmitted by a simple operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, in particular without requiring complicated operations, and an object thereof is to provide an imaging equipment which can improve the safety of the transmitted image information.

In order to achieve the above object, an imaging apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes image information representing an image captured by the imaging unit, first recognition information generated by the imaging apparatus, and the image information. identifying the recipient emitted from the recipient of the associated the image information and the second recognition information, the over the network to a transmission unit for transmitting to a predetermined server, the first recognition information above Question information representing a question to a recipient of image information, including a question information storage unit for storing the question information, wherein the second recognition information includes response information responded by the recipient to the question. Features.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a particularly complex without the need for operation, imaging equipment, which can improve the safety of the transmitted image information.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image providing system shown in FIG. 1 includes a digital camera 100 that is an example of an imaging device, a server 300, and a mobile phone 400 that is an example of an external device, and these are connected to be communicable with each other. Yes.

  A digital camera 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a microprocessing unit (MPU) 101, an operation unit 102, a photographing lens 103, an autofocus (AF) circuit 104, an aperture mechanism 105, an aperture control circuit 106, and an image sensor. 107, analog front end (AFE) circuit 108, image processing circuit 109, display control circuit 110, display panel 111, focus determination circuit 112, compression / expansion circuit 113, recording control circuit 114, recording The medium 115, the external communication circuit 116, and the sound determination circuit 117 are configured.

  The MPU 101 sequentially controls each block constituting the digital camera 100 according to the operation of the operation unit 102 from the user. The operation unit 102 normally has a release button for causing the digital camera 100 to perform shooting, a changeover switch for switching the operation mode of the digital camera 100 between a shooting mode, a playback mode, a network connection mode, and the like, and a shooting mode. A switch for switching between the shooting mode and the image sharing shooting mode, and a switch for switching on / off the display of question items to be described later are included. Here, the image sharing shooting mode is a special shooting mode for safely sharing image information obtained at the time of shooting between the photographer and the subject 200 later. In this image sharing shooting mode, the photographer asks the subject 200 a predetermined question. When a response to this question is made, recognition information (for example, a password) for recognizing a person who can share image information is created from the question and the response, and the created recognition information is added to the image information obtained by photographing. Attached. At the time of acquiring the image information, authentication using the recognition information is performed to reduce the risk that the image information is seen by others.

  The MPU 101 also has a timer for measuring the time when the user took a picture. Thereby, the photographing time is associated with the image information obtained by photographing.

  The taking lens 103 forms an image from the subject 200 on the image sensor 107. The photographing lens 103 includes a lens for autofocus (focusing). During autofocus, the MPU 101 controls the AF circuit 104 while switching the lens position of the focusing lens while monitoring the lens position of the focusing lens, and performs focusing of the photographing lens 103. The diaphragm mechanism 105 is a mechanism that is provided in or near the photographing lens 103 and produces the effects of a shutter and a diaphragm. The aperture mechanism 105 is opened to a predetermined aperture by the aperture control circuit 106 at the start of shooting and closed at the end of shooting. By changing the aperture of the aperture mechanism 105 at the time of shooting, the depth of field of the shooting lens 103 changes. Thereby, it is possible to switch the expression such as adjusting the degree of blurring of the background subject to make the main subject appear at the time of shooting, or depict the background subject firmly.

  The image sensor 107 has a light receiving surface configured by arranging a large number of pixels, and converts an image from the subject 200 received through the photographing lens 103 into an electrical signal. In the present embodiment, the image sensor 107 may use either a CCD system or a CMOS system.

  The AFE circuit 108 includes a CDS circuit, a gain adjustment circuit, an AD conversion circuit, and the like, and is obtained by performing analog processing such as correlated double sampling processing and gain adjustment processing on the analog electric signal obtained in the image sensor 107. The obtained image signal is converted into digital data and input to the image processing circuit 109. The AFE circuit 108 is also provided with a function of reading signals from a plurality of pixels constituting the image sensor 107 at a time. For example, the SFE can be improved by collectively reading out signals of 4 pixels (2 × 2 pixels) and 9 pixels (3 × 3 pixels) by the AFE circuit 108 and adding the read electrical signals. . By such processing, the apparent sensitivity of the image sensor 107 can be increased.

  Further, the AFE circuit 108 also has a function of selecting an output signal from the image sensor 107, and can extract only signals from a limited range of pixels among all effective pixels of the image sensor 107. In general, the image sensor 107 can read signals at high speed by performing thinning. Using this function, if an image obtained for composition confirmation by the image sensor 107 is read at high speed and processed by the image processing circuit 109 and then displayed on the display panel 111, the user is displayed on the display panel 111. It is possible to perform framing using an image.

  The image processing circuit 109 corrects the color, gradation, sharpness, etc. in the image information input from the AFE circuit 108, or amplifies the level of the image information to a predetermined level to adjust it to the correct shading and the correct gray level. Various image processing is performed.

  In addition, in order to display various images such as the framing image as described above, the image processing circuit 109 is resized (reduced) so that the image information input from the AFE circuit 108 can be displayed on the display panel 111. It also has a function to

  The display control circuit 110 converts the image information obtained by the image processing circuit 109 and the image information recorded on the recording medium 115 into a video signal and causes the display panel 111 to display the image information. The display panel 111 is a display panel such as a liquid crystal display panel or an organic EL display panel.

  The focus determination circuit 112 detects the contrast of the image obtained by the image processing circuit 109. The contrast detected by the focus determination circuit 112 is used during autofocus. That is, while the AF circuit 104 changes the lens position of the focusing lens of the photographing lens 103, the focus determination circuit 112 sequentially detects the contrast of the image, and stops the focusing lens at the lens position where the detected contrast is maximized. By doing so, the photographing lens 103 can be focused.

  The compression / expansion circuit 113 compresses the image information processed by the image processing circuit 109 and expands the compressed image information at the time of shooting. The compression / decompression circuit 113 includes a still image compression function using JPEG or the like, MPEG4, H.264, and the like. And a video compression function using H.264 or the like. The recording control circuit 114 appends the accompanying data to the image information compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 113 and records it on the recording medium 115. The incidental information includes shooting date / time information at the time of shooting, exposure conditions, and address (URL) information of the server 300 when the image information is recorded on the server 300, information indicating a recording area where the image information is recorded, and the subject 200. Recognizing information such as response information for questions asked. The recording control circuit 114 has a question database 114a. The question database 114a records question items for which the photographer asks the subject 200 at the time of shooting, and response items to the question items. These question items and response items may be fixed data, but may be renewed, for example, when the digital camera 100 and the server 300 communicate with each other.

  The external communication circuit 116 performs communication control when transmitting image information or the like recorded on the recording medium 115 to the server 300 or receiving various information from the server 300 or the like.

  The voice determination circuit 117 includes a microphone, a voice recognition circuit, and the like. The voice determination circuit 117 digitizes and inputs voice input from the photographer and the subject 200 and outputs the acquired voice information to the MPU 101.

  The server 300 includes a control unit 301 and a recording unit 302. The control unit 301 classifies and records the image information transmitted from the digital camera 100 in the recording unit 302 according to the incidental information, or performs processing when an access request for viewing images from the mobile phone 400 is made. The operation of the server 300 is controlled. The recording unit 302 records image information transmitted from the digital camera 100.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline when image sharing is performed between the user (photographer) 500 of the digital camera 100 and the subject 200 in the image providing system described with reference to FIG.

  The photographer 500 sets the operation mode of the digital camera 100 to the image sharing photographing mode when photographing the subject 200. When the operation mode is set to the image sharing photographing mode, a question item for asking a question used for creating a password as an example of recognition information described later is displayed on the back of the digital camera 100, for example. Displayed on the panel 111.

  The photographer 500 selects one question item from the question items displayed on the display panel 111 and asks the subject 200 a question (see reference numeral 501 in FIG. 2). The subject 200 responds to this question (see reference numeral 502 in FIG. 2). These questions and responses to the questions are basically information that only the photographer 500 and the subject 200 know. Therefore, a password as indicated by reference numeral 503 in FIG. 2 can be created using the question and its response. That is, in this embodiment, a special operation such as setting a password again after shooting is unnecessary. Note that the password can be created by synthesizing the question and response audio information input from the photographer 500 and the subject 200, for example. Alternatively, the question information and response voice information respectively input from the photographer 500 and the subject 200 may be converted into character data and synthesized by combining them.

  When the image information obtained by the digital camera 100 is transmitted to the server 300 together with a password, the transmitted image information is recorded in the recording unit 302, and a password for restricting browsing and downloading of the image information is set. Is done. The image information recorded in the recording unit 302 of the server 300 in this manner can be acquired by the mobile phone 400 as an example of an external device. Note that the external device may not be the mobile phone 400 as long as it has a function of reproducing image information and a function of communicating with the server 300. Further, if it is only necessary to download image information on the assumption that image reproduction is performed on another device, the image information reproduction function may be omitted.

  When an access request for viewing image information is made by operating the cellular phone 400 by the subject 200, the cellular phone 400 is prompted to input a password. At this time, if the subject 200 remembers the question and response contents made at the time of shooting, the question and response at that time are input as indicated by reference numeral 504 in FIG. The image information can be browsed and downloaded. Note that input of a password from the mobile phone 400 may be voice input or character input.

  Next, the question and response input method at the time of shooting will be further described. FIG. 3A is an external view showing an example of a configuration for inputting a question and a response in the digital camera 100. For example, a microphone 117a is arranged on one side of the digital camera 100 shown in FIG. Note that the microphone 117 a is not necessarily arranged on the side surface of the digital camera 100.

  As described above, in the image sharing photographing mode, a question item as indicated by reference numeral 111a is displayed on the display panel 111. The photographer 500 selects one of the question items displayed on the display panel 111 and reads the question. The sound at this time is acquired via the microphone 117a and digitized and captured by the sound determination circuit 117. The MPU 101 in the digital camera 100 determines which question has been selected from the output of the sound determination circuit 117 and stores the determination result in a storage unit (not shown).

  Subsequently, response items to the question as indicated by reference numeral 111b are displayed on the display panel 111 (here, Q1 response items are shown). The subject 200 selects one of the response items displayed on the display panel 111 and reads the response. The sound at this time is acquired via the microphone 117a and digitized and captured by the sound determination circuit 117. The MPU 101 determines which response is selected from the output of the sound determination circuit 117 and stores the determination result.

  Here, in this embodiment, the question and the response are standardized so that the question and the response can be input even when the recognition rate of the voice acquired via the microphone 117a is somewhat poor. If correct voice recognition can be expected, the photographer 500 and the subject 200 may arbitrarily determine the question and the response, respectively. In this case, the password is less likely to be broken than when selecting from a standardized question and response, and the security effect can be expected to be further enhanced.

  When the photographer 500 operates the release button 102b with the question and response stored in the MPU 101 as described above, shooting is performed. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3B, incidental information including question information and response information is attached to the image information.

  Here, at the time of inputting a question and a response, the voice information of the input voice information may be recognized to identify who has input the input voice information. By doing in this way, it is also possible to authenticate a person who has requested browsing of image information using voice information instead of a password. In such a case, it is not always necessary to record all of the question information and the response information. For example, as shown in FIG. .

  Note that the question information or the response information may be manually input using, for example, the cross key 102 a disposed on the back of the digital camera 100. The question information may be manually input, and the response information may be voice input.

  Hereinafter, an image providing method in the image providing system shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing control of the digital camera 100 in the image providing system shown in FIG.

  First, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the operation mode of the digital camera 100 is set to the shooting mode (step S1). If it is determined in step S1 that the shooting mode is set, the MPU 101 performs image processing on the output of the image sensor 107 and displays a framing through image display that always displays the result on the display panel 111 ( Step S2).

  Subsequently, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the digital camera 100 is set to the image sharing shooting mode (step S3). In step S3, when the image sharing shooting mode is not set, that is, in the normal shooting mode, the MPU 101 executes the shooting operation by determining whether or not the release button 102b is operated by the photographer 500. Is determined (step S4). In step S4, when the release button 102b is operated, the MPU 101 executes a photographing operation (step S5), and appends additional information such as the photographing date and time to the image information obtained thereby and records it on the recording medium 115. (Step S6). Thereafter, the MPU 101 ends the process of FIG. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S4 that the release button 102b is not operated, the process returns to step S1.

  If it is determined in step S3 that the image sharing shooting mode is set, processing for attaching the above-described question information and response information to the image information is performed so that the subject 200 can also share the image. That is, the MPU 101 displays the question item on the display panel 111 as indicated by reference numeral 111a in FIG. 3A (step S7). Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether or not a question has been made by the photographer 500 (step S8). This is performed by determining whether or not a voice corresponding to the question item has been input, or whether or not the question item has been selected by the cross key 102a. In the determination in step S8, when a question is made by the photographer, the MPU 101 stores voice information or character information corresponding to the question as question information in a storage unit (not shown) (step S9).

  Subsequently, the MPU 101 displays response items to the question on the display panel 111 as indicated by reference numeral 111b in FIG. 3A (step S10). Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether or not a response has been made by the subject 200 in the same manner as in the case of the question by the photographer 500 (step S11). If it is determined in step S11 that the subject 200 has responded, the MPU 101 stores voice information or character information corresponding to the response as response information (step S12).

  After storing the response information, the MPU 101 determines whether or not to perform the shooting operation by determining whether or not the release button 102b is operated by the photographer 500 (step S13), and the release button 102b is operated. Wait until When the release button 102b is operated in the determination in step S13, the MPU 101 executes a photographing operation (step S14), and the question information stored in step S9 and the response stored in step S12 are added to the image information obtained thereby. The incidental information including the information is incidentally recorded on the recording medium 115 (step S15). Thereafter, the MPU 101 ends the process of FIG.

  Further, since there may be a case where shooting is performed in a state where there is no question from the photographer 500 and no response from the subject 200, the following processing is performed in this case. That is, in step S8, when the question is not made by the photographer 500, the MPU 101 determines whether or not to perform the shooting operation by determining whether or not the release button 102b is operated by the photographer 500. (Step S16). If it is determined in step S16 that the release button 102b has not been operated, the process returns to step S7. If the release button 102b is operated in the determination in step S16, the MPU 101 executes a photographing operation (step S17), and appends the incidental information to the image information obtained thereby, and records it on the recording medium 115. Then, a question by the photographer 500 and a response by the subject 200 are prompted (step S18). This is performed by, for example, displaying a display for prompting a question and a prompt on the display panel 111. Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether or not a question from the photographer 500 and a response from the subject 200 have been made (step S19). If it is determined in step S19 that a question and a response have not been made, the process returns to step S18 to prompt the question and the response again. On the other hand, when a question and a response are made in the determination in step S19, the MPU 101 attaches the question information and the response information to the auxiliary information of the image information recorded in the recording medium 115 in step S18 (step S20). 4 is terminated.

  If the response by the subject 200 is not made in step S11, the MPU 101 determines whether or not to perform the shooting operation by determining whether or not the release button 102b has been operated by the photographer 500 (step S11). Step S21). If it is determined in step S21 that the release button 102b has not been operated, the process returns to step S10. Further, when the release button 102b is operated in the determination in step S21, the MPU 101 executes a photographing operation (step S22), and records the image information obtained thereby with incidental information including question information. After recording on the medium 115, a response by the subject 200 is prompted (step S23). Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether or not a response has been made by the subject 200 (step S24). If it is determined in step S24 that no response has been made, the process returns to step S23 to prompt the response again. On the other hand, if a response is made in the determination in step S24, the response information is added to the auxiliary information of the image information recorded in step S23 (step S25), and the processing in FIG.

  In step S1, if the operation mode of the digital camera 100 is not set to the shooting mode, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the operation mode of the digital camera 100 is set to the playback mode (step S26). . If it is determined in step S26 that the playback mode is set, the MPU 101 performs playback mode processing described later (step S27). Thereafter, the processing of FIG.

  If it is determined in step S26 that the playback mode is not set, the MPU 101 determines whether the operation mode of the digital camera 100 is set to the network connection mode (step S28). If it is determined in step S28 that the operation mode of the digital camera 100 is set to the network connection mode, the MPU 101 transmits / receives data to / from the server 300 via the external communication circuit 116 (step S29). Thereafter, the processing of FIG. This is uploading of image information and accompanying information recorded on the recording medium 115 and downloading of various information such as question items. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S28 that the operation mode of the digital camera 100 is not set to the network connection mode, the process returns to step S1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control in the playback mode of FIG.
In the playback mode, the MPU 101 displays a list of image information recorded on the recording medium 115 on the display panel 111 (step S31). Next, the MPU 101 determines whether any image information is selected from the image information displayed in a list by the operation of the operation unit 102 by the user (the photographer 500 or the subject 200) (step S32). . If no image information is selected in the determination in step S32, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the reproduction mode has expired by determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step S33). . If it is determined in step S33 that the time has not expired, the process returns to step S32 to determine again whether image information has been selected. On the other hand, in the determination of step S33, when the time is up, the process of FIG. 5 is terminated.

  Further, when an image is selected in the determination in step S32, the MPU 101 enlarges and displays the selected image on the display panel 111 (step S34). Subsequently, the MPU 101 determines whether an instruction to share the image information selected by the operation of the operation unit 102 by the user has been given (step S35). When the image information sharing instruction is not issued in the determination in step S35, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the reproduction mode has timed out by determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step S35). S36). If it is determined in step S36 that the time has not expired, the process returns to step S35, and it is determined again whether or not an image information sharing instruction has been issued. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S36 that the time has expired, the processing in FIG. 5 is terminated.

  In the determination in step S35, when an instruction to share image information is given, the MPU 101 determines whether or not a question has been made by the photographer 500 (step S37). Prior to the processing in step S37, a question item as indicated by reference numeral 111a in FIG. 3A may be displayed on the display panel 111. If it is determined in step S37 that the photographer 500 has not asked a question, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the playback mode has expired by determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step S37). S38). If it is determined in step S38 that the time has not expired, the process returns to step S37, and it is determined again whether the photographer 500 has made a question. On the other hand, in the determination of step S38, when time is up, the process of FIG. 5 is terminated.

  If the photographer 500 makes a question in the determination in step S37, the MPU 101 stores voice information or character information corresponding to the question as question information (step S39). Subsequently, the MPU 101 determines whether or not a response has been made by the subject 200 (step S40). Prior to the processing in step S40, response items as indicated by reference numeral 111b in FIG. 3A may be displayed on the display panel 111. When the response by the subject 200 is not made in the determination in step S40, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the playback mode has expired by determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step S41). ). If it is determined in step S41 that the time has not expired, the process returns to step S40 to determine again whether or not the subject 200 has responded. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S41 that the time has expired, the processing in FIG. 5 is terminated.

  In the determination at step S40, when a response is made by the subject 200, the MPU 101 stores voice information or character information corresponding to the response as response information (step S42). Subsequently, the MPU 101 attaches the question information and the response information to the incidental information of the selected image information (step S43), and then ends the process of FIG. In this way, the image information accompanied with the question information and the response information in the playback mode is also transmitted to the server 300 when connected to the network.

  Note that when the question information and the response information are already attached as the incidental information of the image information, the processing of step S37 to step S43 is omitted.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control of mobile phone 400 in the image providing system shown in FIG.
In FIG. 6, the mobile phone 400 determines whether or not the user (the subject 200 or the photographer 500) has performed an access operation to the server 300 (step S51). If it is determined in step S51 that an access operation to the server 300 is performed, a web page for image display is displayed under the control of the server 300. Thereafter, the cellular phone 400 reproduces an image according to the control of the server 300 (step S52). After executing the image reproduction, the processing in FIG. 6 is terminated.

  In step S51, when the access operation to the server 300 is not performed, the mobile phone 400 determines whether or not the user has performed a call operation (step S53). If it is determined in step S53 that a call operation has been performed, call processing is performed (step S54). Thereafter, the processing of FIG. In step S53, when the call operation is not performed, the mobile phone 400 determines whether or not the user has performed an operation of sending and receiving an e-mail (step S55). If it is determined in step S55 that an e-mail transmission / reception operation has been performed, an e-mail transmission / reception process is performed (step S56). Thereafter, the processing of FIG. If it is determined in step S55 that no e-mail transmission / reception operation has been performed, the process returns to step S51.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the control of the server 300 in the image providing system shown in FIG.
The control unit 301 of the server 300 determines whether or not the digital camera 100 is connected for communication (step S61). If it is determined in step S61 that the digital camera 100 is connected for communication, the control unit 301 identifies the transmitted image information from the incidental information of the image information transmitted from the digital camera 100, and Based on the identification result, the image information is organized and recorded in the recording unit 302 (step S62). Next, the information for renewal of the question item and the response item is transmitted to the digital camera 100 (step S63). This makes it possible to diversify questions as much as possible when sharing images with the digital camera 100. After the process of step S63, the process of FIG.

  In step S61, when the digital camera 100 is not connected for communication, the control unit 301 determines whether or not an access is made from the mobile phone 400 (step S65). In the determination in step S65, when access from the mobile phone 400 is made, the control unit 301 displays a display for prompting the user of the mobile phone 400 to input a password including question information and response information. This is performed (step S66). Thereafter, the control unit 301 determines whether the question information is correctly input (step S67) and determines whether the response information is correctly input (step S68). When the question information and the response information input from the mobile phone 400 are both appropriate in the determinations in step S67 and step S68, the control unit 301 is associated with the input question information and response information. Image information is retrieved from the recording unit 302 and transmitted to the mobile phone 400 (step S69). Thereafter, the process of FIG. 7 ends. On the other hand, when the question information and the response information input from the mobile phone 400 are not appropriate in the determination of either step S67 or step S68, the control unit 301 applies a security lock to the mobile phone 400. A warning display is transmitted (step S70). Thereafter, the process of FIG. 7 ends.

  In step S65, when the mobile phone 400 is not accessed, the control unit 301 determines whether execution of other services is instructed by a user such as a PC (not shown) (step S65). S71). Here, a service related to creation of a blog and browsing of content will be described as an example of another service. If it is determined in step S71 that execution of another service is instructed, the control unit 301 determines whether or not the instruction to execute another service is a blog creation instruction (step S72). If it is determined in step S72 that the instruction to execute another service is a blog creation instruction, the control unit 301 executes various processes so that the user can create a blog (step S73). Thereafter, the process of FIG. 7 ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S72 that the execution instruction for the other service is not a blog creation instruction, the control unit 301 allows the user to display various contents such as image information without question information and response information on the blog. (Step S74). Thereafter, the process of FIG. 7 ends.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide an imaging apparatus and its peripheral system that have a high security effect and can easily transfer images without requiring complicated operations at the time of shooting. That is, in the present embodiment, in view of the fact that it is not always necessary to share image information at the time of shooting, it is possible to transmit and receive image information reliably and without security problems at the stage where the environment is ready. . Moreover, it is possible to improve safety by creating recognition information that only the photographer and the subject can know at the time of shooting. Furthermore, when a password is used as the recognition information, this password is harder to forget than a password with a number of numbers, and can be input while remembering memories at the time of shooting.

  Hereinafter, modifications of the present embodiment will be described. For example, in the above-described embodiment, when there is an access from the mobile phone 400, image information that matches a password made up of question information and response information recorded at the time of shooting is searched. The image information may be searched together with the shooting date / time information.

  Further, the question and response may not be voice input or selection input. For example, image information such as a gesture may be recorded instead of a question or a response at the time of shooting, and this gesture may be input when the mobile phone 400 accesses the server 300.

  Furthermore, although it has been described that the person who is the subject 200 performs the response to the question from the photographer 500 of the digital camera 100, the person who responds to the question is not necessarily the subject 200. That is, the responding person may be a recipient of image information (a user of the mobile phone 400 in the above example) such as a person who requested the photographer to take an image.

  If the photographer 500 is always the same person, the question information may be omitted by recording information for identifying the person in the main body of the digital camera 100. Further, for example, the recipient of the image information (subject 200, etc.) may input the name of the person who has taken the image via, for example, the microphone 117a. However, in this case, if the same person has taken a lot of pictures, it becomes impossible to specify the pictures, so it is desirable to limit the date and time at the time of shooting. As an example of this, an example in which shooting date and time, shooting location, etc. are input by voice and the voice information is recorded instead of a password will be described below.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the control in the reproduction mode of the modified example. Note that the audio information recording method described in FIG. 8 can also be applied in the shooting mode.

  The MPU 101 displays a list of image information recorded on the recording medium 115 on the display panel 111 (step S81). Next, the MPU 101 determines whether any image information is selected from the image information displayed in a list by the operation of the operation unit 102 by the subject 200 (step S82). If no image information is selected in the determination in step S82, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the reproduction mode has expired by determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step S83). . If it is determined in step S83 that the time has not expired, the process returns to step S82 to determine again whether image information has been selected. On the other hand, in the determination of step S83, if the time is up, the process of FIG. 8 is terminated.

  Further, when an image is selected in the determination in step S82, the MPU 101 enlarges and displays the selected image on the display panel 111 (step S84). Subsequently, the MPU 101 determines whether or not an instruction to share the image information selected by the operation of the operation unit 102 by the user has been given (step S85). If the image information sharing instruction is not issued in the determination in step S85, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the playback mode has expired by determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step S85). S86). If it is determined in step S86 that the time has not expired, the process returns to step S85, and it is determined again whether an instruction to share image information has been issued. On the other hand, in the determination of step S86, if the time is up, the process of FIG. 8 is terminated.

  In the determination in step S85, when an instruction to share image information is given, the MPU 101 turns on the microphone 117a (step S87). Subsequently, the MPU 101 determines whether or not audio information (including the photographer's name, shooting date, shooting location, etc.) has been input by the subject 200 (step S88). When the audio information is not input from the subject 200 in the determination in step S88, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the playback mode has expired by determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed ( Step S89). If it is determined in step S89 that the time has not expired, the process returns to step S88, and it is determined again whether or not audio information has been input by the subject 200. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S89 that the time has expired, the power source of the microphone 117a is turned off (step S92), and the processing in FIG.

  In the determination at step S88, when audio information is input by the subject 200, the MPU 101 stores the input audio information (step S90). Subsequently, the MPU 101 associates audio information with the selected image information and records it on the recording medium 115 (step S91), then turns off the microphone 117a (step S92), and ends the processing of FIG. .

  In this way, it is possible to reliably search and reproduce the target image information even when reproducing the image information while reducing the amount of information incidental to the image information.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and applications are naturally possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

  Further, the above-described embodiments include various stages of the invention, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some configuration requirements are deleted from all the configuration requirements shown in the embodiment, the above-described problem can be solved, and this configuration requirement is deleted when the above-described effects can be obtained. The configuration can also be extracted as an invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the image provision system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary at the time of sharing an image between the user of a digital camera, and a to-be-photographed object. 3A is an external view showing an example of a configuration for inputting a question and a response in the digital camera 100, and FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the question information and the response information attached to the image information. FIG. 3C is a diagram showing an example of recording a part of the voice of the response information instead of the response information. 2 is a flowchart showing control of a digital camera in the image providing system shown in FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing control in the playback mode of FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control of a mobile phone in the image providing system shown in FIG. It is the flowchart shown about control of the server in the image provision system shown in FIG. It is a flowchart shown about the control at the time of the reproduction | regeneration mode of a modification.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Digital camera, 101 ... Micro processing unit (MPU), 102 ... Operation part, 102a ... Release button, 102b ... Cross key, 103 ... Shooting lens, 104 ... Auto-focus (AF) circuit, 105 ... Aperture mechanism, 106 ... Aperture control circuit 107... Image sensor 108. Analog front end (AFE) circuit 109 109 Image processing circuit 110 Display control circuit 111 Display panel 112 Focus determination circuit 113 Compression / decompression circuit 114 ... Recording control circuit, 114a ... Question database, 115 ... Recording medium, 116 ... External communication circuit, 117 ... Audio determination circuit, 117a ... Microphone, 300 ... Server, 301 ... Control unit, 302 ... Recording unit, 400 ... Cellular phone

Claims (1)

A shooting section for shooting the subject;
Image information representing an image photographed by the photographing unit, first recognition information generated by the imaging device, and a second that identifies the recipient that is associated with the image information and that is issued from the recipient of the image information A transmission unit that transmits the recognition information to a predetermined server via a network;
Equipped with,
The first recognition information is question information representing a question to the recipient of the image information,
Including a question information storage unit for storing the question information,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second recognition information includes response information in which the recipient responds to the question.

Images