JPH02207691A - Picture data recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store picture data obtained from various picture data sources in a memory card by converting picture data stored in a temporary storage means to picture data of a prescribed form by the picture processing opposite to the picture processing to which this picture data is subjected and writing processing results in the memory card. CONSTITUTION:When data of a still picture of one frame read out from a frame buffer 40 is compressed picture data, a central processing part CPU 52 expands this data. The CPU 52 subjects this picture data to the processing of picture element arrangement corresponding to a peculiar color filter arrangement to perform the gradation reverse correction processing. The white balance reverse adjustment is performed to release the white balance adjustment corresponding to the color temperature of object illuminating light to which picture data is subjected. This picture data is read out to a card interface 18 through a system bus 50 and is stored in a memory card 14. Thus, the memory card is used as an intermediate storage medium to use picture data of various resources.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image data recording device for recording image data in a module type semiconductor memory such as a memory card.

11. A digital electronic still camera has been proposed that stores images captured by an imaging device in the form of digital data in a semiconductor storage device such as a RAM memory card. For example, the applicant's pending patent application, Japanese Patent Application No. 62-2703871.

Images captured by a digital electronic still camera can be played back on a video monitor or printer by removing the memory card storing the image data from the camera and loading it into a playback device. Such a reproducing device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-124364. and the applicant's pending patent application, Japanese Patent Application No. 62-213058.

Also, patent application No. 63-232511 also filed by the present applicant.
A digital electronic still camera connects a memory card that records image data using a digital electronic still camera, reads out the image data, digitally processes the signal, obtains standard format image data, and displays the image on a monitor. A camera playback device has been proposed.

Incidentally, like other systems, digital electronic still camera systems are also required to be compatible with resources including various forms of data sources and storage media. For example, there is a need for a system that can freely capture image data from any type of data source and store it on any type of storage medium.

However, none of the above-mentioned conventional systems is specifically configured to handle other image data sources, such as image signals obtained from television cameras or videotape playback devices, or computer-generated images. The system described in Japanese Patent No. 63-232511 presents the possibility of optical disks and magnetic disks as file storage media for recording 5-image data. However, even with such conventional systems, image data cannot be stored in other storage media, such as semiconductor storage devices such as memory cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of these demands, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image data recording device that can store image data obtained from various image data sources in a memory card.

The image data recording device according to the present invention has temporary storage means for storing image data, input means for receiving an image signal and converting it into digital image data and storing it in the temporary storage means, and the temporary storage means. Image processing means performs image processing opposite to the image processing performed on the stored image data and converts it into image data in a predetermined format, and writes the image data processed by the image processing means to a memory card. and card writing means.

According to the present invention, there is also an image data recording device.

In place of or in addition to the input means, it may include input means for receiving image data and storing it in the temporary storage means.

Note that in this specification, the term "memory card" includes a semiconductor storage device in which a semiconductor storage device is mounted on a generally flat rectangular card-like support, and the term "modular semiconductor memory" includes. Not only memory cards,
It includes a semiconductor storage device that is removably connected to other devices.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, the image data recording device IO of the embodiment converts an image signal obtained from an image data source such as a video camera 12 into image data in a predetermined format, for example, a standard format for digital electronic still camera systems. For example, the memory card 14 applied to the image data recording device 10, which is an image recording device that stores data in a storage device such as a memory card 14 or reproduces it on an image output device 16 such as a video monitor or an image printer, is as follows. For example, a semiconductor memory device such as a RAM is a storage device supported on a card-shaped base, and is removably loaded into the card interface 18.

In addition to the video camera 12, this apparatus uses a video tape reading section 22 for reading image signals from a video tape 20 as an image data source. For example, it has a video floppy reading section 26 for reading image signals from a 2-inch standard video floppy 24, and a memory card reading section 30 for reading image data stored in another memory card 28.

The memory card 28 stores image data from, for example, a digital electronic still camera. This image data is generally in the form of color separation signals, eg, three primary color signals RGB, specific to the segmented arrangement of color filters used in the imaging device of the camera that performed the imaging. Furthermore, in general, gradation correction is performed in accordance with the sensitivity characteristics of the imaging device and the characteristics of the image data storage medium, and white balance adjustment is performed in accordance with, for example, the illumination light for the subject. This also applies to image signals obtained from other image signal sources such as the video camera 12. Furthermore, image data may be stored in the memory card 28 in a compressed form by removing redundancy through orthogonal transformation such as discrete cosine transformation.

Also in this example. The videotape 20 is, for example, NT
An image signal of a normal standard such as SC is used, and the video floppy 24 is an image signal of an electronic still camera standard, for example, in the form of an FM modulated luminance/color difference signal. Ru.

The video camera 12, videotape reader 22 right side, and floppy reader 26 are analog
Via the digital converters (ADCIs 32, 34 and 36), the card reader 30 is also directly accommodated in a multiplexer 38, which is connected to the input port 42 of the frame buffer 40. 32, 34 and 36 are signal conversion circuits that convert the image signals inputted from their inputs into corresponding digital data and output it to the multiplexer 38.The multiplexer 38 is connected to the analog/digital converters 32, 3415 and 36 , and a selection circuit that selects input from the card reading section 30 and outputs it to the buffer input port 42.

The frame buffer 40 is a temporary storage device including an R11 having a storage capacity capable of storing image data for one frame. From its readout output 44.

In parallel, the image data is output to the digital-to-analog converter IDAcI 46 at a standard TV signal rate (1R5-17OA standard), in this embodiment 14.3M5 ps. This read video timing signal is supplied to the frame buffer 40 from a synchronization signal generation circuit (not shown) of the digital-to-analog converter 46.

The digital-to-analog converter 46 is a signal conversion circuit that converts the image data input from the input 44 into a corresponding analog signal and outputs it to the output 48. For this conversion, the converter 48 includes a look-up table and the above-mentioned synchronization signal generation circuit. In this embodiment, the analog signal output to output 1:2B is the three primary color signal R.
These signals, GB i5 and synchronization signal S, are supplied to the video monitor 16.

The video monitor 16 visualizes the video signal of the input 48 and displays it as a color image. For example, a color video monitor, such as a CRT, is advantageously applied. Instead of or in addition to the video monitor 48, other image output devices such as a printer or an analog communication device may be connected.

A system bus 50 is also connected to the frame buffer 40, to which a central processing unit 1cPU) 52 and a main memory 54 are connected. The central processing section 52 and the memory 54 constitute a main control device that centrally controls each functional section of the device, and can advantageously be realized at a low cost by a commercially available microcomputer system. The central processing unit 52 also compresses and expands one image data, rearranges pixels according to the one-color filter array,
It also performs image processing such as inverse correction of gradation (γ) and inverse adjustment of white balance.

In this embodiment, a keyboard 58 is connected to the system bus 50 via a keyboard interface 56, or an optical disk device 66 is connected via an optical disk interface 64. Furthermore, connected to the system bus 50 are a card interface 18 that reads and writes data to and from the memory card 14, and a floppy drive section 62 that reads and writes data to and from a magnetic floppy disk 60. The keyboard 58 is a manual input device for inputting various operator instructions into the apparatus, such as image data reading instructions and data compression types. The optical disc interface 64 is an interface unit that connects the present device to an optical disc 66 as a file storage device, and in this embodiment, a write-once optical disc storage device, for example, is advantageously applied as the optical disc 66. The floppy disk 60 used in this embodiment has a standard compatible with the data processing system. This allows the apparatus to capture image data from the floppy disk 60 in which image data generated by another processing system, ie, computer-generated image data, is stored.

In this embodiment, the image signal from video camera 12 is converted to corresponding digital data by analog-to-digital converter 32 and stored in frame buffer 40 from multiplexer 38. In addition, the image signal recorded on the videotape 20 or video floppy 24 is
The data is read by the videotape reader 22 or floppy reader 26, converted into corresponding digital data by the analog/digital converter 34 or 36, and stored in the frame buffer 40 from the multiplexer 38, respectively. When the memory card 28 is loaded into the card reading section 30, it is mechanically and circuitically connected to the card reading section 30, and the card reading section 30 reads out the image data stored therein from the RAM of the memory card 28. , and transfers this to the frame buffer 40. Further, for example, combiator-generated image data stored in the floppy disk 60 is read into the frame buffer 40 from the floppy drive section 62 under the control of the central processing section 52. The image data obtained from these image data sources may be, for example, three primary color signals such as RGH, or luminance/
It may take various forms such as a color difference signal.

Image data accumulated in the frame buffer 40 from any image data source is stored in the frame buffer 40 under the control of the central processing unit 52.
The image processing described above is performed. Referring to FIG. 2, when the central processing unit 52 reads l-frame still image data from the frame buffer 40 (1011, if this is data compressed image data, data decompression processing is performed to decompress it). Perform step 102.

After the data decompression process 102, or after reading the data from the frame buffer 40 in the case of uncompressed image data, the central processing unit 52 performs pixel rearrangement according to the color filter array specific to the image data. Processing 103
This is done by converting the format of the color separation signal specific to the segment arrangement of the color filter used in the imaging device of the camera that took the image into a format common to digital electronic still camera systems, for example, three primary color signals RGB.
This is the process of converting it into the form. Of course, instead of taking the form of RGB color component signals, it may take the form of luminance signals and chroma signals, for example.

After the color filter arrangement process 103, the central processing unit 52 performs
A gradation inverse correction process 104 is performed, which is a process of canceling the gradation correction specific to the image data source to which the image data relates and inversely converting it into linear image data. Next, the central processing unit 52 performs white balance inverse adjustment 105, and cancels, for example, the white balance adjustment according to the color temperature of the field illumination light applied to the image data.

In this way, the image processing performed when forming the image data stored in the frame buffer 40 is stored in the frame buffer 40 after being subjected to processing opposite to the algorithm used during its formation. Therefore frame buffer 4
The completed image data has a data format that is compatible with conventional digital electronic still camera playback equipment.

The image data in the buffer 40 is read out to the card interface 18 through the system bus 50 and stored in the memory card 14 under the control of the central processing unit 130.
+1071° At that time, similarly to the memory card 28 on the input side, for example, orthogonal transformation such as discrete cosine transformation may be performed to remove redundancy and the image data may be stored in a compressed form (106). The image data stored in the memory card 14 in a standard format is available for later use.

Similarly, image data is read from the frame buffer 40 and stored as an image file on the optical disk 66 through the optical disk interface 64,
The data may be written to the floppy 60 by the floppy drive 62, and may also be output to a communication line via a transmission device housed in another input/output port (not shown) connected to the system bus 50, e.g. , the image data stored on the optical disk 66 is transferred to the interface 64i3 and the system bus 50 under the control of the central processing unit 52.
The image may be read out to the frame buffer 40 via the frame buffer 40 and subjected to image processing in the same manner as described above.

The image data accumulated in the frame buffer 40 is output as a visible image to the video monitor 16, for example, or to an image output device such as a printer or analog communication device that is connected equivalently to the video monitor 16. Therefore, not only the image data read from the image data source but also the image data that has been subjected to any stage of image processing such as color filter array processing 1031 gradation inverse correction 104 or white balance inverse adjustment 105, etc. , the displayed image can be viewed on the monitor 16.

In this embodiment, the above-mentioned image processing performed by the central processing unit 52 may be configured to be performed by a digital hardware circuit dedicated to the processing.If configured in this way, one image processing can be executed. In this embodiment, the image data that is finally stored in the storage medium such as the memory card 14 is RGB data in a common format that is commonly used in other systems. Therefore, it is compatible with other systems.

In this embodiment, image data obtained from such various image data sources is stored in a memory card in a data format common to ordinary digital electronic still camera playback devices. Therefore, not only computer-generated image data generated by other processing systems, but also computer-generated image data generated by the central processing unit 52
If the processing system of this apparatus 10 including the image data generation function has an image data generation function, the image data generated thereby may be stored in the frame buffer 40, and such image data in any form may be stored in the memory card 14. Ru.

Thus, according to the present invention, image data obtained not only from a digital electronic still camera but also from various types of image data sources can be transferred to a memory card in a data format common to ordinary digital electronic still camera playback devices. is accumulated in This makes it possible for digital electronic still cameras to use image data from various resources using the memory card as an intermediate storage medium.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of an image data recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing an example of image processing in the embodiment shown in FIG. Image data recording device 100 years old camera memory card video monitor card interface floppy reader card reader frame buffer central processing unit floppy drive unit optical disk

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Temporary storage means for accumulating image data; input means for receiving an image signal, converting it into digital image data and accumulating it in the temporary storage means; An image processing means that performs image processing opposite to the image processing performed on the image data and converts it into image data in a predetermined format, and a card write means that writes the image data processed by the image processing means to a memory card. An image data recording device comprising: means. 2. Temporary storage means for accumulating image data, input means for receiving image data and accumulating it in the temporary storage means, and image processing that is the reverse of the image processing performed on the image data accumulated in the temporary storage means. 1. An image data recording device comprising: an image processing means for converting image data into image data in a predetermined format; and a card writing means for writing image data processed by the image processing means into a memory card. 3. The image data recording device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined format is compatible with a digital electronic still camera system.