JPH057355A - Data transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transfer a picture data between recording media of different formats by communication means. CONSTITUTION:When a picture data is transferred from a memory card 20, a floppy disk 11, etc., to external devices such as personal computer, a mode in which a data is transferred as it is or another mode in which a data is transferred after it is compressed or expanded by a specified amount by an expansion/compression circuit 17 is selected by a system control circuit, etc. At the time of transfer, communication is made with an external device for a transfer mode to be automatically selected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data transfer device, and more particularly to a data transfer device for transferring image data between a plurality of recording media by communication means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when image data is transferred between a plurality of recording media by communication means, the image data recorded in the transfer source recording medium is directly transferred to the transfer destination recording medium or is preset. It was whether to transfer data according to a fixed format.

[0003]

However, if the image data of the transfer source as described above is transferred as it is or in a fixed format, a plurality of external devices having different formats cannot be operated.

Incidentally, for example, a digital still video camera has a built-in means for compressing and expanding image data therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a data transfer device capable of transferring image data between recording media having different formats by a communication means.

[0006]

A data transfer device of the present invention comprises a data transfer means capable of transferring data to an external device, a mode of transferring the data as it is when transferring the data, and a predetermined amount of compression of the data. Or a transfer mode selecting means for selecting a mode for expanding and transferring.

[0007]

In this data transfer device, when transferring data to an external device, it is possible to select a mode in which the data is transferred as it is or a mode in which the data is compressed or expanded by a predetermined amount and then transferred.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment in which image data recorded on a memory card or a floppy disk is transmitted to an external device such as a still video camera by communication means.

[0009] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating the connection between one embodiment the data transfer apparatus 1 and a digital still video camera 55 according to the embodiment, the external device comprising a computer 56, printer 57, etc. of the present invention, from the data transfer system 1 Through the derived multi-connector plug 1a, image data with a variable compression rate or expansion rate is transferred to each of the external devices. Next, the external panel surface of the data transfer device 1 will be described. Reference numeral 2 is a floppy disk insertion portion, 3 is a memory card insertion portion, 4 is a numeric keypad, 5 is a power switch, and an LED indicator 5a is arranged above it. Has been done. Reference numerals 6 and 7 are push button switches for designating the transfer direction, and 6 designates data transfer from the memory card or floppy disk to an external device, and 7 designates data transfer from the external device to the memory card or floppy disk. The LED indicators 6a and 7 are provided above these switches.
a is provided.

Reference numeral 8 is a start switch for supporting the start of transfer, and 9 is an enter key. After the numeric key 4 is used to specify a one-digit or two-digit number, the enter key 9 is pushed to complete the specification. Numerals 51 and 52 are push button switches for selecting whether the compression rate is set automatically or manually, 51 for automatic setting and 52 for manual setting. Above each of these switches is an LED indicator light 51a,
52a are arranged respectively. Reference numeral 53 denotes a push button switch used when manually setting the compression rate. Figure 1
In the block diagram of the data transfer device 1 , the output end of the memory card 20 is connected to one input end A of the recording medium switch 32 via the card interface 19.
The other input terminal B of the switching device 32 is connected to the output terminal of the floppy disk 11 whose drive is controlled by the disk drive circuit 12 via the floppy input / output circuit 14. The output terminal C of the recording medium switch 32 is connected to the expansion / compression switch 18
Is connected to the expansion / compression circuit 17 whose expansion rate and compression rate are controlled by the encoding control circuit 21. The decompression / compression circuit 17 includes an orthogonal transformation circuit 17a and a quantization circuit 1
7b and an encoding / decoding circuit 17c, the transfer data is compressed in the direction 17a → 17b → 17c, and is expanded in the direction 17c → 17b → 17a. The expansion / compression circuit 17
Is connected to an external device such as a personal computer through the expansion / compression switching device 16 and the external device interface 31.

Data compression / expansion by the transfer mode selection means will be described. Extension / compression switch 1
When the contact pieces D of 6 and 18 are connected to the contact E side, neither expansion nor compression is performed and the transfer source data is transferred as it is.

On the other hand, the mode for compressing or expanding the transfer data by a predetermined amount and transferring the data is the expansion / compression switching unit 16,
With the contact piece D of 18 in contact with the contact F side or the G side,
When it is in contact with the F side, when the transfer direction is from the external device to the memory card 20 or the floppy disk 11 (hereinafter referred to as internal memory) built in the data transfer device, data compression is performed. Further, if the transfer direction is opposite to that described above from the internal memory to the external device, data expansion is performed. Further, when the contact piece D of the transfer / compression switching device 16 or 18 is in contact with the contact G side, the data is expanded if the transfer direction is from the external device to the internal memory, and the transfer direction is opposite to the above. From the external device to the external device, data compression is performed. The setting of the compression rate and the expansion rate by the circuit 17 is performed via the encoding control circuit 21 by a control signal from the system control circuit 22 described later.

When selecting transfer data on a multi-screen to be described later, it is often done while monitoring at the transfer source. For example, when transferring data from an external device to the internal memory, image data on the external device side, that is, When the output of the external device interface 31 is to be transferred from the internal memory to the external device, the image data of the memory card 20 or the floppy disk 11 which is the internal memory, that is, the output of the card interface 19 or the floppy input / output circuit 14 is respectively output. Need to display on monitor. Therefore, the external device interface 31,
Card interface 19, floppy input / output circuit 14
The respective outputs of the above are switched by the output switch 25A and supplied to the output signal processing circuit 26. In the processing circuit 26, the character information such as characters from the character generator 24 is superimposed and output to an internal or external display device, so that the image data and the character information on either the external device side or the internal memory side are displayed. It can be switched and displayed on the monitor.

The disk drive circuit 12, recording medium switching device 32, floppy input / output circuit 14, expansion / compression switching devices 16 and 18, encoding control circuit 21, card interface 19, output switching device 25A, character generator 24, external device. A control signal is applied to the device interface 31 from the system control circuit 22 which controls the operation sequence of the data transfer device and is the core of the data transfer means and transfer mode selection means in the claims. The control circuit 22 includes the numeric keypad 4, the power switch 5, the transfer direction designating push button switches 6 and 7, the start switch 8, the enter key 9, the automatic or manual compression ratio setting push button switches 51 and 52 described in FIG. A switch operation signal of the operation unit 23 including the compression rate switch 53 and the compression rate switch 53 is input, whereby, for example, designation of a transfer direction, expansion / compression switching, setting of the rate thereof, output switching to an external display device, and the like are performed. Be seen. Then, it becomes possible to perform data transfer between the external device and the internal memory of the data transfer device 1 in which the compression ratio and the expansion ratio can be changed. The operation of the first embodiment thus constructed will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. When this flow starts, first, as shown in FIG.
It is checked whether or not the transfer direction is designated by pressing the push button switch 6 or 7 for designating the transfer direction (step S1).

When the transfer direction is designated, all or a part of the transfer source recording screen in the transfer direction is displayed as a multi-screen in which a plurality of screens are divided and displayed on one screen, and a serial number is displayed on the plurality of screens. Assign And
A screen number to be transferred is designated from among the assigned serial numbers by the ten-key 4 and the enter key 9 shown in FIG. 2 (step S2).

Next, it is checked whether or not the compression rate is automatically set (step S3).
In the case of manual setting in which the compression ratio manual setting push-button switch 52 is turned on, the process proceeds to step S4 to execute the compression ratio setting subroutine.

FIG. 4 shows the subroutine "set compression rate".
2 is a flowchart showing the details of step S11, and the compression rate switch 5 shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
When the switch 53 is pressed, the menu screen as shown in Table 1 is displayed on the monitor screen of the external display device (step S12).

[0018]

[Table 1]

While looking at this menu screen, for example, if it is desired to compress at a compression rate of 2 bit / pel, the above-mentioned FIG.
After pressing the numeral button "2" of the ten-key pad 4 shown in (see step S13 and FIG. 5). If the enter key 9 shown in FIG. 2 is turned on (see step S14 and FIG. 5),
The compression rate number 2 corresponding to the compression rate of 2 bits / pel is fetched and the compression rate designation in the manual setting is completed. As a result, the subroutine "compression rate setting" shown in step S4 of FIG. 3 is completed, and the process returns to step S7 following step S4.

In the step S7, the system control circuit 22 shown in FIG. 1 controls the switching of the internal circuits such as the recording medium switch 32 and the output switch 25A, and transfers the data (step S8). To finish.

The above is the process of manually setting the compression ratio. Next, the automatic compression ratio setting by turning on the compression ratio automatic setting push button switch 51 of FIG. 2 is performed by changing the transfer direction of the image data from the internal memory to the outside. Same as device to Figure 3
The flow will be described.

When the automatic compression rate setting is selected in step S3, the remaining recordable capacity in the recording medium of the external device which is the transfer destination is calculated by communicating with the external device (step S5).

On the other hand, the floppy disk 11 which is the transfer source
Alternatively, since the number of screens to be transferred from the memory card 20 is already known in step S2, the recordable capacity per one sheet can be calculated by dividing the remaining recordable capacity by the number of transfer screens. The compression rate can be calculated (step S6).

When the compression rate is obtained in this way, the system control circuit 22 of FIG. 1 sets the compression rate of the decompression / compression circuit 17 by the encoding control circuit 21. After that,
In the same manner as described for the manual setting, the switch control of the internal circuit is performed (step S7), and the data is transferred (step S8).

When data is transferred from the internal memory to the external device by the automatic compression ratio setting, the compression ratio or compression method is confirmed by communicating with the external device prior to the actual transfer, and the compression ratio is checked after confirmation. It may be calculated (step S9), which corresponds to claim 2.

According to the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained for each external device described later.

<1> When transferring image data recorded by a digital still video camera having a memory card,
In the past, the memory card was extracted from the camera for copying, but in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to extract it and data can be transferred.

<2> When image data is transferred to a personal computer, even if the personal computer does not have a compression / expansion circuit and the format cannot be received, the image data is transferred via the compression / expansion circuit of the present apparatus. Operations such as image processing can be performed on a personal computer.

<3> Similarly, in the case of a printer, even if the format on the printer side is constant, the format can be freely changed by the compression / expansion circuit of this apparatus and transferred to the printer. In the above embodiment, the memory card and the FD were described as an example of the plurality of recording media, but the present invention is not limited to this, and is widely applicable to a plurality of recording media for transferring and copying image data. Of course. Furthermore, it goes without saying that these recording media are not limited to those used in cameras, and can be widely applied to electronic devices in various fields that handle image information.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the data transfer means transfers the data to the external device, the transfer mode selecting means compresses or expands the mode in which the data is directly transferred and the data is compressed or expanded by a predetermined amount. Since the transfer mode is selected, the remarkable effect that the image data can be transferred by the communication means even between recording media having different formats is exhibited.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a data transfer device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining connection with an external device in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a subroutine “compression ratio setting” in FIG. 3 above.
The flowchart which shows the detail of FIG.

5A and 5B are views for explaining key operations in FIG.

[Description of Codes] 1 ... Data transfer device 16, 18 ... Decompression / compression switcher (transfer mode selection means) 21 ... Encoding control circuit (transfer mode selection means) 22 ... System control circuit (data transfer means and transfer mode selection) 31) External device interface (data transfer device) 55 ... Digital still video camera (external device) 56 ... Personal computer (external device) 57 ... Printer (external device)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A data transfer unit capable of transferring data to an external device, and a transfer for selecting a mode for transferring the data as it is and a mode for transferring the data after compressing or expanding the data by a predetermined amount. Mode selection means,
A data transfer device comprising: 2. The transfer mode selection means, when transferring data to an external device, communicates with the external device and automatically selects a transfer mode.
The described data transfer device.