JPH0564134A - Digital recording electronic still camera having character input means - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a reproduced picture with excellent quality from both a natural picture and character information even when the character information is fetched in the natural picture and the result is picked up by picking up, recording and reproducing the natural picture and the character information with the separate methods in the digital recording electronic still camera. CONSTITUTION:When the natural picture is picked up, it is coded by an encoder 14 for natural picture and recorded on an IC card 18, and the coded picture data are decoded by a decoder 15 for a natural picture and the picked-up picture is displayed on a liquid crystal display device 9. When a character area is pointed out by a pen 10 on the liquid crystal display device 9 and a character is read, the character information is specified by a signal processing section 11 and a character recognition section 12, converted into a character code and recorded on the IC card 18. The character with excellent quality is displayed at reproduction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital recording type electronic still camera which can record and reproduce a natural image and character information by different methods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital recording type electronic still cameras for recording photographed images in a semiconductor memory such as an IC card have been researched and developed. Under such circumstances, various image information compression techniques have been proposed for reducing various redundancies generated for digitizing image information and efficiently recording. In addition, the character recognition technology is also improving day by day, and nowadays a reading device for printed characters, a handwritten character reading device for alphanumeric characters and the like and an input device are put into practical use.

[0003]

By the way, generally, the nature of the image is different between the natural image and the character image. For example, the natural image is required to have a high gradation even though the resolution is lower than that of the character image. .. On the other hand, it is desirable that the character image has a high resolution even if the gradation is low. Therefore, when capturing character data as image data using an image sensor such as a CCD, it is necessary to input a high-definition image with respect to a natural image, and when a character is present in a natural image, the character can be accurately identified. It is necessary to zoom in more than necessary to shoot. In addition, when the captured image is recorded in the memory, high-rate image information compression is performed by a method similar to that of the natural image, so that there is a possibility that the characters cannot be discriminated. Further, there is a limit to the capacity of a semiconductor memory such as an IC card, and it is not effective use of the image data recording memory to unnecessarily enlarge and record especially when printing fine characters printed. However, there is a possibility that the originally intended recording of the image data may be disabled.

Therefore, if there is character information or the like that the photographer particularly wants to record, a method of photographing a natural image with a digital recording type electronic still camera and writing a memo on the natural image is used. It had the drawback of having to be prepared. It should be noted that when printing a print character, the meaning of the character is often required rather than a handwriting or a typeface. The present invention is based on the above consideration, and its object is to capture character information in a natural image by capturing, recording and reproducing the natural image and the character information by different methods. An object of the present invention is to provide a digital recording type electronic still camera capable of obtaining a reproduced image of good quality for both a natural image and character information.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a digital recording type electronic still camera according to the present invention has an image pickup section, a video RAM, and display means capable of designating a character area for displaying the contents of the video RAM. A character recognition unit, a dictionary, a character information encoder, a character information decoder, a natural image encoder, a natural image decoder, and when the release operation is performed, the natural image data captured by the imaging unit is stored. The natural image is temporarily stored in the video RAM, the natural image is compression-encoded by the natural image encoder, recorded in the digital recording means, and decoded by the natural image decoder to display the natural image on the display means. When a character area is specified inside, the character information data taken from the image pickup unit is stored in the video RAM. After the character is stored and specified by the character recognition unit, it is converted into a character code by the character information encoder by referring to the dictionary, and is recorded in association with the recorded natural image area of the digital recording means. At the same time, the character area information is controlled to be recorded in the header portion of the natural image, and when reproduction is instructed, the natural image read out from the digital recording means is decompressed and decoded by the natural image decoder, and the display means is displayed. When a character region of the displayed natural image is designated, a control unit for controlling the character information to be read out and decoded by the character information decoder to reproduce the character information in the character designated region, It consists of Also,
An image pickup unit, a video RAM, a display unit capable of designating a character area for displaying the contents of the video RAM, an encoding system for character information, a character information decoder, and an encoding system for natural images. When the release operation is performed by the encoder, the natural image decoder, and the release operation, the natural image data captured by the imaging unit is temporarily stored in the video RAM, and the natural image is compression-encoded by the natural image encoder and digital recording means. And the natural image is decoded by the natural image decoder and displayed on the display means, and when a character region is designated in the displayed natural image, the character information data taken from the image pickup unit is recorded in the video. The recorded natural image area of the digital recording means is temporarily stored in RAM and encoded by the character information encoder. The natural image decoder reads out the natural image from the digital recording means when the reproduction is instructed by recording the character region information in the header part of the natural image and recording it in the associated region. When the character area of the natural image which is decoded and displayed on the display means is specified automatically or when the character area of the displayed natural image is designated, the character information is read and decoded by the decoder for character information to write the character information in the character designated area. It is composed of a control unit for controlling reproduction.

[0006]

According to the above construction, when recording and reproducing a natural image including character information, an image of good quality can be obtained in both the natural image portion and the character information portion.

[0007]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing an embodiment of a digital recording type electronic still camera having character input means according to the present invention. The camera according to the present invention is switched to either the still camera mode or the image scanner mode under the instruction of the CPU 4. Normally, the still camera mode is set. In this mode, the focus lens 1 can focus on an object from infinity to a close distance, and the image data read from the video RAM 7 is compression encoded by the natural image encoder 14. It Solid-state image sensor 2 when capturing text information in image scanner mode
Becomes a continuous scanning state, and the image data read from the video RAM 7 passes through the signal processing unit 11, is recognized by the character recognition unit 12, and is encoded by the character information encoder 17.

Focusing operation of the focus lens 1 is performed by the lens driving device 6, and driving of the solid-state image pickup device 2 such as CCD is performed by the driver 5 under the control of the CPU 4. When the photographer half-presses a release button (not shown) in the still camera mode, the AF mechanism operates to bring the subject into focus. The image formed on the solid-state image sensor 2 through the lens unit is photoelectrically converted and sent to the A / D converter 3. The image signal digitized by the A / D converter 3 is sent to the D / A converter 8 via the video RAM 7 and again converted into an analog form and displayed on the liquid crystal display device 9. When the photographer looks at the moving image on the liquid crystal display device 9 and presses the release button for the shot he / she desires to take, that image can be taken. Continuous shooting is also possible by pressing and holding the release button. In the still camera mode, when a subject is photographed, the image signal photoelectrically converted by the solid-state image sensor 2 is digitized by the A / D converter 3 and the video RAM.
Temporarily stored in 7. The image data temporarily stored in the video RAM 7 is compression-encoded by the natural image encoder 14 and transferred to the IC card 18, and also decoded by the natural image decoder 15 and converted again into an analog signal by the D / A converter 8. Then, a still image is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 9.

The photographer looks at the displayed still image and, for example, the character information to be recorded is the natural image encoder 14
When there is a character or number that cannot be distinguished as a result of compression by encoding in 1., it is necessary to record so that the character or the like can be clearly distinguished. Therefore, by designating the portion where the character or the like is photographed as the character region with the pen 10, only the character or the like can be photographed in the designated character region. When the photographer specifies the text area,
The CPU 4 switches from the still camera mode to the image scanner mode, and the photographer can scan and input the character information desired to be recorded. The character area designated by the pen 10 can be specified by the start address indicating the start point of the area and the number of vertical and horizontal pixels. The information on the start address and the number of vertical and horizontal pixels is used for the IC card 1
No. 8 is recorded in the header area of the image.

When capturing characters in the image scanner mode, when the photographer presses the release button in a close-up state with respect to the characters input by the camera, the characters are sequentially read, and the image data is temporarily stored in the video RAM 7, The signal processing unit 11 performs preprocessing such as binarization and line drawing. Then, the character recognition unit 12 extracts a feature to identify the character. The character data specified by the character recognition unit 12 is converted into an ASCII code by the character information encoder 17 by referring to the dictionary 16. A shift JIS code or the like can be used as the conversion code. ASCI
The character data converted into the I code is transferred to the IC card 18 and recorded separately from the image data. IC card 1
When the transfer of the character data to 8 is completed, the CPU 4 switches to the original camera still mode.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of the recording area of the IC card. It is composed of a head address indicating a designated character area, a header area in which the numbers of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions are recorded, a natural image data area, and a character data area. If the photographer has character information to be recorded in addition to the character information already recorded, the camera switches to the image scanner mode by again specifying the character area in the reproduced still image on the liquid crystal display device with the pen. However, when a large number of character areas are designated in this way, the character area information is sequentially recorded in the header area. The character area can specify any position in the reproduced still image.

FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram showing another embodiment of a digital recording type electronic still camera having character input means according to the present invention. In the figure, each circuit part using the same reference numeral as in FIG. 1 has the same configuration. This embodiment is a video RAM
This is different from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that the character information temporarily stored in is encoded by the character information encoder without character recognition. In the still camera mode, the encoding is performed by the encoder 14 for the natural image encoding method, and in the image scanner mode, the encoding is performed by the encoder 19 for the character image encoding method. J is the encoding method for natural images.
The still image coding method defined by the standard such as PEG is used. An uncompressed encoding method (for example, Huffman encoding is performed by taking the difference between adjacent pixels) is used as the encoding method for the character image. In addition to this, an encoding method with less deterioration of resolution (for example, binarization and run-length encoding) can be used.

Normally, it is in the still camera mode,
In this state, if the photographer half-presses a release button (not shown), the AF mechanism is activated to bring the subject into focus. An image is formed on the solid-state image sensor 2 through the lens unit, and is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 9 via the A / D converter 3 and the video RAM 7. When the photographer looks at the moving image on the liquid crystal display device 9 and presses the release button for the shot desired to be photographed, the image signal photoelectrically converted by the solid-state image sensor 2 is digitized by the A / D converter 3 and stored in the video RAM 7. It is temporarily stored. The image data temporarily stored in the video RAM 7 is compression-encoded by the natural image encoder 14 and transferred to the IC card 18, and also decoded by the natural image decoder 15 and converted again into an analog signal by the D / A converter 8. Then, a still image is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 9. When the photographer looks at the displayed still image and specifies the character area with the pen 10, the CPU
Reference numeral 4 switches from the still camera mode to the image scanner mode, and the start address of the character area designated by the pen 10 and the information on the number of vertical and horizontal pixels are recorded in the header area of the image recorded in the IC card 18.

When the character information is read, the character image data is temporarily stored in the video RAM 7, and is encoded by the character information encoder 19 by the character information encoding system as the image data of the designated address area in the image data. Be converted. Then, it is transferred to the IC card 18 and recorded separately from the image data. When the transfer of the character data to the IC card 18 is completed, the CPU 4 switches to the original still camera mode. The character area can be specified arbitrarily, and the entire area can be specified as the character area. In this case, only the image data encoded by the encoding method for character images will be recorded. At the time of reproduction, if the area designated as the character area at the time of recording in the natural image displayed on the liquid crystal display device 9 is designated by a pen or the like, the character image recorded by the encoding method for the character image is reproduced. Further, it is possible to automatically reproduce a character image only by performing a reproduction operation without designating with a pen. In this embodiment, character recognition is not performed. However, characters that can be recognized are converted into codes such as ASCII code or shift JIS by character recognition, and only the unrecognizable characters are coded for character images. It can also be applied.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a natural image including character information is photographed, it can be confirmed whether or not the character is recorded in the image reproduced by the information amount compression coding to such an extent that it can be discriminated. If it is not possible to discriminate, the character information can be recorded / reproduced easily and efficiently in good condition regardless of where the character information is printed or handwritten. can do. In the former embodiment, when capturing and recording character information in the scanner mode, printable characters and handwritten characters that can be recognized such as alphanumeric characters are recorded with a specific code (for example, ASCII code or shift JIS code). Therefore, it is possible to edit the character information later with a word processor or the like. As an example of use, to avoid forgetting the other party's face when exchanging business cards, etc., take a picture of the other party's face in still camera mode, specify a part of the image reproduced on the liquid crystal display device as a character area, and scan it. In mode, you can easily scan information such as business card names, telephone numbers, and company names, record them together, and transfer the data to the database later. In the latter embodiment, similar to the above, it is possible to easily record the face and name of the other party by exchanging business cards, etc., and display the characters together with the face photograph during reproduction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing an embodiment of a digital recording type electronic still camera having character input means according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a recording area of an IC card.

FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Focus lens 2 ... Solid-state image sensor 3 ... A / D converter 4 ... CPU (control part) 5 ... Driver 6 ... Lens drive device 7 ... VRAM (video RAM) 8 ... D / A converter 9 ... Liquid crystal display device DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Pen 11 ... Signal processing part 12 ... Character recognition part 13 ... Character information decoder 14 ... Natural image encoder 15 ... Natural image decoder 16 ... Dictionary 17 ... Character information encoder 18 ... IC card 19 ... Character information encoder

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup unit, a video RAM, a display unit capable of designating a character area for displaying the contents of the video RAM, a character recognition unit, a dictionary, a character information encoder, a character information decoder, and a natural unit. When an image encoder, a natural image decoder, and a release operation are performed, the natural image data captured by the imaging unit is temporarily stored in the video RAM,
The natural image is compression-encoded by the natural image encoder, recorded in the digital recording means, decoded by the natural image decoder and displayed on the display means, and the character area is designated in the displayed natural image. At this time, the character information data taken in from the image pickup unit is transferred to the video R.
After being temporarily stored in the AM, the character is identified by the character recognition unit, converted into a character code by the character information encoder by referring to the dictionary, and associated with the recorded natural image area of the digital recording means. And the character area information is controlled to be recorded in the header portion of the natural image, and when reproduction is instructed,
The natural image read out from the digital recording means is expanded and decoded by the natural image decoder and displayed on the display means, and when the character area of the displayed natural image is designated, the character information is read out for the character information. A digital recording type electronic still camera having character input means, comprising: a control unit for decoding so as to reproduce character information in the character designation area by a decoder. 2. An image pickup unit, a video RAM, a display unit capable of designating a character area for displaying the contents of the video RAM, an encoder of a character information encoding system, a character information decoder, and a natural image. When a release operation is performed by using an encoding method encoder, a natural image decoder, the natural image data captured by the imaging unit is temporarily stored in the video RAM,
The natural image is compression-encoded by the natural image encoder, recorded in the digital recording means, and decoded by the natural image decoder to display the natural image on the display means, and a character area is designated in the displayed natural image. At this time, the character information data taken in from the image pickup unit is temporarily stored in the video RAM, encoded by the character information encoder, and recorded in an area of the digital recording means associated with the recorded natural image area. At the same time, the character area information is controlled to be recorded in the header portion of the natural image, and when reproduction is instructed, the natural image decoder that has read the natural image from the digital recording means decodes the natural image to display the display means. When the character area of the displayed natural image is displayed automatically, the character information is read out and the text is read. Digital recording type electronic still camera having a character input means, wherein the control unit, that consists for decrypting the information decoder is controlled so as to reproduce the character information on the character designation area.