JP5094089B2 - Image recording device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that records captured photographic images in a file format, and more particularly to an image recording apparatus that can easily search for recorded image files.

  A digital camera is known as an image recording apparatus that records photographed photographic images in a file format. Digital cameras record and store image files using a memory card or the like configured with a non-volatile memory as a recording medium. When such a digital camera is used, it is easy to delete, unlike a conventional silver halide camera, even after the captured image is once stored, so that it can be easily captured and stored. Due to such ease, an increasing number of users take a large number of images and store them on a memory card. In addition, due to the recent expansion of memory card storage capacity and price reduction, it is possible to save more than 1000 image files on a single memory card, depending on the image size at the time of shooting. In addition, when moving and storing only image files that the user really wants to save from a large amount of stored image files to an information processing terminal such as a personal computer, or when printing and storing using a printer, A search function for selecting only a desired image file is important. Also important is the ability to easily check the search results.

  As a technology for searching for image files recorded on the memory card of a digital camera, the playback time of the image files that are played back sequentially by the playback operation of the digital camera is changed depending on what does not match the search criteria, and the search criteria There is known an invention that makes it easier for a user to find a desired image file by making the playback time of an image file that matches the condition longer than the playback time of an image file that does not match (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, an image captured by a digital camera is stored in a personal computer, and a database for storing the image file in association with image capturing condition information given when each image file is captured, and an image feature amount from the image file. There is known an invention in which a correlation between images is derived based on a photographing condition and a feature amount by an image search device including a feature extraction means for extracting and an image having a high degree of correlation is extracted (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  In addition, in a digital camera that has a function to search captured images, the image information is grouped by combining the positional information acquired at the time of shooting and the feature quantities calculated by calculating the features included in the images, and the correlation between the images is calculated. Thus, there is known an invention capable of performing search processing more quickly (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

JP 2006-157484 A JP 2006-164008 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-039858

  The invention described in Patent Document 1 is a search process for an image file in which a search condition is set. It is necessary for the user to explicitly set search conditions for the image file. However, it is complicated for a user to assign search conditions to each of a large number of image files.

  The invention described in Patent Document 2 relates to a search method for storing images taken with a digital camera in a personal computer and searching for one favorite image from a large number of stored image files. A database search can be performed by a database stored in association with an image and a feature amount extracted from the image by a feature amount extraction unit, and an image similar to one hit can be searched by a feature amount. However, the image search process cannot be performed only by the digital camera, and it is difficult to store the means and the database inside the digital camera. When the digital camera is stored, it is necessary to enlarge the housing of the digital camera. .

  In the invention described in Patent Document 3, another image can be searched for by calculating the correlation with the feature of one image, and the user needs to input a part of the search condition by the input means. Further, the present invention is characterized in that the position information at the time of shooting can be searched with this position information by associating it with the image file.

  In addition, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-105683, the applicant of the present application can select the image file that the user wants to print based on the date information given to the captured image file, and can easily print the image file. An application for an image recording apparatus that can be used has been filed.

  In any of the above-described inventions, in order to search for a desired image file from an enormous amount of image files, it is necessary to associate information usable as a search condition with the image file by human means. When search conditions are generated in detail in these methods, it is necessary to associate a plurality of search conditions with an image file in order to search for an image file. Therefore, the user needs to understand that the search conditions that can be selected are set in detail. That is, even if detailed search conditions can be selected, it is necessary to know in advance what kind of search conditions can be set for an image file desired by the user. It must be possible for the user to determine and select whether it can be designated, and use it as a search condition, and it is difficult to perform a search easily.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when displaying a photographed photograph image, information that can be specified as a search condition is generated from the photograph information recorded together with the photograph image. An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus capable of easily searching for an image file by displaying information and the photographic image in a selectable manner at the same time.

In the present invention, an optical image representing a subject is converted into an electrical signal by an imaging unit, a signal processing unit that converts the electrical signal into a video processing signal, and a video signal converted by the signal processing unit is recorded as an image file. An image recording apparatus comprising: an image recording unit; a shooting information recording unit that records shooting information that is a condition used for shooting operation together with recording of an image file; and an image display unit that displays the recorded image file. The image search information generating means for generating the image search information from the shooting information of the image files sequentially displayed on the image display means when operating in the playback mode, and the image search for selectively displaying the image search information An information display selection means and at least one image search information displayed on the image search information display selection means are selected, and an image file is selected based on the image search information. Anda image retrieval means for displaying on the image display unit to search, serial image retrieval information, the attributes and values contained in at least the photographing information is configured in correspondence, the image retrieval information display selecting means, and most main feature that you specify search criteria by logical operation combining at least one or more of the plurality of image retrieval information.

  According to the present invention, in the image search process of the image recording apparatus, when specifying a search condition, a search condition candidate is extracted from the image specified by the user and can be used as a detection condition. This makes it possible to quickly and easily specify search conditions. In addition, according to the present invention, when a search condition candidate is displayed in all images at the stage where the user reproduces and confirms the recorded image, the operation becomes complicated. Since the search condition candidates extracted from the image are displayed, the search conditions can be specified more smoothly.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An external view showing an example of a digital camera as an image recording apparatus is shown in FIGS. 1 is a rear external view, FIG. 2 is an upper external view, and FIG. 3 is a front external view.

  In FIG. 1, a light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as “LED”) (8) for informing the user that the focal length has been reached by AF (autofocus) is provided on the back of the image recording apparatus, and the completion of strobe charging is indicated to the user. LED (9) for notifying, optical finder (6), switches for operating zoom in the Wide direction or Tele direction (SW3, SW4), and power switch (13 for turning on / off the power of the image recording apparatus main body) ), A liquid crystal display element (hereinafter referred to as “LCD”) monitor (10) which is an image display means for displaying a photographed photograph image and a setting screen, and various settings on a setting screen displayed on the LCD monitor (10). Up / down / left / right keys (SW7, SW10, SW11, SW8), self-timer switch (SW5), The OK switch (12) for determining the items and setting values selected by the user when setting the operation conditions of the image recording apparatus, the menu switch (SW6) for displaying the setting screen, and the display operation of the LCD monitor (10) are turned on / off. It has a display switch (SW9) that turns off.

  In FIG. 2, an upper part of the image recording apparatus has a release shutter (SW1), a mode dial (SW2) for switching between various shooting modes and playback modes, a sub LCD for displaying the number of shots, the number of shots remaining, a battery end display, etc. (1).

  In FIG. 3, a battery holder (2) for storing and protecting a battery holder for storing a battery as an operation power source of the image recording apparatus, a memory slot for storing a memory card as a recording means, and a lens are stored on the front surface of the image recording apparatus. Lens barrel unit (7), remote control light receiving unit (6), distance measuring unit (5) for measuring the distance to the subject to realize autofocus, strobe light emitting unit (5), and optical viewfinder (4) is doing.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a digital camera which is an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, the imaging means of the digital camera 1 includes a lens unit 21, a CCD 22, a TG (control signal generator) 23 for driving the CCD, a CDS 24 for sampling a CCD output electrical signal (analog image data), and the sampled data. It comprises an AGC (AUTO GAIN CONTROL) 25 for adjusting the gain of data and an A / D converter 26 for converting it into a digital signal.

  An image received by the CCD 22 via the lens unit 21 is converted into a digital video signal and input to the signal processing IC 27. YUV conversion unit 28 and resizing processing unit 29 which are image processing units that convert an input signal from the imaging unit into a displayable format and store it in a memory, a display output control unit 30 that is a display signal output unit, and color information The CPU 31 which is color information extracting means for extracting is all included in the signal processing IC.

  The signal processing IC 27 outputs a synchronization signal to the CCD 22 and captures data in accordance with the synchronization signal, and a YUV conversion that converts the input digital image signal into a displayable and recordable YUV data format. Unit 28, a resize processing unit 29 for changing the image size in accordance with the display and recording size, a display output control unit 30 for controlling display output, a data compression unit 32 for recording in JPEG, and the image data to the memory card A media I / F 33 that controls writing, and a CPU 31 that performs overall system control, color information extraction, and the like.

  The display output control unit 30 outputs a signal by adding a signal such as a synchronization signal for outputting to the LCD monitor 10 built in the camera. The SDRAM 34 serves as a memory for temporarily storing image data and JPEG compressed data, a memory for holding display data, and a RAM of the CPU. The ROM 35 has a control program for controlling the camera, and the CPU operates based on this program and data.

  Still image shooting using the digital camera 1 having the above configuration will be described. When the release shutter button is pressed, AF (AUTO FOCUS) processing is performed prior to shooting. For example, hill-climbing AF that finds the maximum contrast value while moving the focus lens is performed to focus the subject. Next, calculation / setting of the number of electronic shutters for photographing a still image and calculation / setting of an aperture are performed (AE (AUTO EXPOSERE) processing), and exposure for recording is performed. When the exposure is completed, the mechanical shutter is closed, and RAW data for a still image is output from the CCD 22. In a digital camera equipped with release processing 1 (half press) and release processing 2 (full press), AF and AE processing are calculated during release processing 1, and exposure for setting and recording is performed in release 2 processing. Generally, the control is as follows.

  The still image RAW data is taken into the SDRAM 34. For example, in the case of interlaced transfer, all CCD data is written to the SDRAM 34 as RAW data by a plurality of transfers. All RAW data undergoes white balance (WB) gain multiplication, gamma correction, and RGB interpolation processing, and the YUV converter 28 performs image processing such as edge enhancement and color setting, and converts it to YUV data. And written back to the SDRAM 34. The set value of WB is calculated based on the RGB integration result obtained when the RAW data output from the CCD 22 is taken into the signal processing IC 27. In general, the ratio of R and B pixels to G pixels is calculated, and each pixel is multiplied by a gain such that R = G = B. However, the color can be matched by this calculation process when a white subject is photographed. In general photographing, a process for extracting white from a photographed image is performed, and the above process is performed on the extracted image. AWB can be realized.

  The data converted into YUV is full size (CCD size), and when the recording image size is recorded with a size smaller than the CCD size, the image is reduced by the resizing unit 29. When displaying the photographic data, the image data is also reduced to a small size, written back to the SDRAM 34, sent to the LCD monitor 10 via the display output control unit 30, and displayed. The YUV image prepared for recording is subjected to JPEG compression by the compression / decompression unit 32. The JPEG compression result is written back to the SDRAM 34, and after a process for adding a header is performed, the result is stored as an image file in the memory card 36 serving as a storage unit.

  Next, an embodiment of image file search performed using the image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is an example of a screen displayed on the LCD monitor 10 of the digital camera 1 that performs search processing. In FIG. 5, the screen 100 is an example in which a playback image 101 of a recorded image file and image search information 102 generated by extracting a detection key from shooting information of the playback image 101 are displayed. . In the screen 100, image search information displayed vertically on the left side is search condition type (attribute) information 102a determined by the classification of information recorded in the shooting information, and is vertically aligned on the right. The search condition information is the key information 102b corresponding to the attribute of the search condition. The key information 102b is information that can be selected in the search condition information.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, the type information 102a includes date (DATE), file format (FILE FORMAT), image size and image quality (PIC).
QUALITY / SIZE), ISO sensitivity (ISO SETTING), WB (WHITE BALANCE), scene determination (SCENE), and camera memo (CAMERA MEMO) are displayed. In this example, “2006/07/26” is selected for the date and “JPEG” is selected for the file format as the key information 102b for each search condition.

  As described above, when the recorded image file is displayed on the LCD monitor 10, the image search information 102 can be selected from the shooting information of the image file, and the user can select from the displayed image search information 102. Search conditions can be determined. More specifically, when the user operates the operation unit of the digital camera 1, the digital camera 1 is operated in the playback mode, and the image files recorded by performing a predetermined operation are sequentially displayed on the LCD. When an image that the user is interested in is displayed on the monitor 10, the image search information 102 is generated from the shooting information of the displayed image file and displayed in a selectable format as shown in FIG. Then, it is possible to determine the key information 102b from the displayed image search information 102 and set the search condition.

  The image search information generation process will be described in more detail. The recorded image file stores shooting information determined at the time of shooting such as shooting date and time, file format, and recording ISO sensitivity. Specifically, the various types of information can be stored in the header information of the image file. Generally, there is an Exif (Exchangeable image file format) standard as a format for recording an image file. An image file recorded in the Exif standard saves various attached information at the time of shooting as an image file together with shot image data. In the Exif standard, ancillary information that must be recorded with the main image and information that can be recorded freely by the manufacturer (manufacturer note) are stored in the header.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the image search information generation process. As described above, shooting information is recorded as header information constituting an image file. First, one piece of type information is set to generate image search information 102 that is a candidate for search information (401), and the set type information is searched from the header of the shooting information (402). Although details are not described, for example, if the file format is Exif standard, the basic type information is described in the specified tag number and format, so it is uniquely determined from the set search condition attributes. You can search by specifying a tag number that is determined.

  Next, when the designated type information 102a is searched, the key information 102b corresponding to the tag number determined from the attribute is extracted and stored in the SDRAM 34 in association with the type information 102a. The type information 102a is expressed by numerical data or ASCII character strings by corresponding tags.

  Subsequently, it is checked whether there is another type information 102a that is a candidate for the search condition (406). If it exists, the type information 102a is updated (407), and the above-described processing 402 to processing 407 are repeated. Basic items are determined in advance for the type information 102a as a search condition candidate. FIG. 5 described above is an example in which date, file format, image size, image quality, ISO sensitivity, WB, scene determination, and camera memo are assumed as the type information 102a.

  FIG. 7 is an example of the image search information generated by the image search information generation process and recorded in the SDRAM 34. As shown in FIG. 7, the image search information 102 has a table structure composed of type information 102a and key information 102b, and is recorded in the SDRAM 34. As the type information 102a and the key information 102b, a character string by an ASCII code may be recorded as shown in FIG. 7, but information for replacing each information with numerical data is prepared separately and stored as numerical data. It may be. For example, in the type information 102a, numerical data = 1 represents ISO setting information, and if the corresponding key information 102b is 0 in the numerical data, a replacement process may be performed such as indicating AUTO.

  As described above, in the image recording apparatus according to the present invention, when searching for a captured and recorded image file, an image search information generation process is performed, and the result of the process is displayed on the LCD monitor 10 together with the image file. Thus, when the user finds an image of interest (for example, a snapshot with a friend) in the process of sequentially reproducing recorded images, the search information obtained from the image can be displayed and selected. In other words, it can be said that the search information obtained here characterizes the image. In this way, the search condition desired by the user can be easily set.

  Next, another embodiment of the image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described. 8, 9, and 10 are other examples of image search information display displayed in a list together with the image file displayed on the LCD monitor 10. When the file format is selected in FIG. 5 already described, the display shown in FIG. 8 is obtained. The screen 100 displays a screen for designating a file format, which is one of the image search information, together with the image file 101. In this example, since the file format of the reproduced image is JPEG, JPEG is selected first. In FIG. 8, TIFF or DNG (Digital Negative Format) can be selected as key information 102 b other than JPEG as image search information that can be selected.

  The display example shown in FIG. 9 is a display example when WB (white balance) is selected in FIG. In FIG. 9, as in the example of FIG. 8, AUTO which is the white balance in the reproduced image is first selected, and other white balances can be selected.

  The display example shown in FIG. 10 is a display example when DATE (date) is selected while the screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. In FIG. 10, as in the example of FIG. 8, the displayed image file is captured and the date is automatically selected. In the screen of FIG. 10, the range of the shooting date of the image file to be searched by changing the displayed date can be set as the image search information.

  Next, image search processing performed using the image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 11, a search condition is acquired. As described above, the search condition is obtained as a set of type information 102a and key information 102b as image search information 102 and recorded in the SDRAM 34 (901). Next, an image file to be searched is set. Since the image recording apparatus normally stores a plurality of images, the image file recorded first may be set as a search target (902). In this embodiment, since the image search information is recorded in the header portion of the image, the header information is read (903), and the search process is performed using the image search information 102 acquired in the process 901. When an image having the same key information 102b as the image search information 102 is searched, the type information 102a corresponding to the key information 102b is saved (905) and (906).

  Next, it is checked whether or not the type information 102a matches the type information 102a acquired in the process 901 (907). If they match, the ID of this image is stored. Subsequently, it is checked whether there is an unsearched image file (909). If there is an unsearched image file, the image file to be searched is updated (910), and the updated image file is updated. The process 903 to the process 910 are repeated. This recursive processing is repeated until there is no unsearched image file, and when the unsearched image file no longer exists, the stored image ID hits the search condition designated. This ID is recorded in the SDRAM 34 as a list. In this example, since the search condition is stored in the header portion of the image, it is not necessary to search all the image data, and the search can be performed relatively quickly. In the image reproduction after the search, if only the corresponding image is sequentially reproduced from the generated search match file list, only the image desired by the user can be viewed.

Next, an embodiment of an image printing process that can be performed using the image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a process for performing batch printing operation by collectively specifying the image files searched by the image search process. When a search image is specified for specifying a print file by the operation unit (1001), an image search shown in the image search flow is performed, an image file name is obtained from a search match file list for generating a search match file list, and A list table as shown in FIG. 13 is created (1002).
Based on the list table of FIG. 13, an example of a print request to the printer of FIG. 14 (in the case of a plurality of images) is created and transmitted to the printer (1003). Thereafter, the printer waits for a response to the print result (1004). If the print job ends normally, the print completion flag of the print file is set and updated (1005). Since a print request for a plurality of files is made to the printer, it is determined whether all print results have been received (1006). If there is an unreceived result, the process returns to (1004) and waits for reception.
A number of digital cameras equipped with a face detection function have been put on the market, and information about how many faces have been detected can be recorded in the header along with the recorded image. If this information is used as an image search condition, for example, a print list table of images in which people are photographed can be created, and the number of prints can be set according to the number of people, so that it is possible to easily print person photos for the number of people. End up.

  The present invention can also be applied to an image recording system configured by operating a combination of a hand scanner as an image input device and a personal information terminal as an image processing device instead of a digital camera as an image recording device.

1 is an external rear view showing an example of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is an external top view illustrating an example of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is an external front view showing an example of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the screen display in the image recording device which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the image search information generation process in the image recording device which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the image search information produced | generated in the image recording device which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the screen display in the image recording device which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the screen display in the image recording device which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the screen display in the image recording device which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the image search process in the image recording device which concerns on this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of batch printing processing in a digital camera applicable to the present invention. It is an example of a list table created by a printing process performed using a digital camera applicable to the present invention. 7 is a description example of print request information transmitted from a digital camera applicable to the present invention to a printer.

Explanation of symbols

1 Digital Camera 100 Screen 101 Reproduced Image 102 Image Search Information 102a Type Information 102b Key Information

Claims (3)

Signal processing means for converting an optical image representing a subject into an electrical signal by an imaging means, and converting the electrical signal into a video processing signal;
Image recording means for recording the video signal converted by the signal processing means as an image file;
Photographing information recording means for recording photographing information which is a condition used for photographing operation together with recording of the image file;
An image display device comprising: an image display means for displaying the recorded image file,
Image search information generating means for generating image search information from the shooting information of image files sequentially displayed on the image display means when operating in the reproduction mode;
Image search information display selection means for selectively displaying the image search information;
Image search means for selecting at least one or more image search information displayed in the image search information display selection means, searching for an image file based on the image search information, and displaying the image file on the image display means;
The image search information is configured by associating at least attributes and values included in the shooting information ,
The image recording information display selecting means designates a search condition by a logical operation combining at least one of a plurality of image search information . 2. The image search information display selection unit displays a plurality of values assumed from attributes included in the photographing information, and allows an arbitrary value to be selected from the displayed values. Image recording device. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a search image reproduction unit that can sequentially reproduce only the recorded images searched by the image search unit .