JP2000101966A - Electronic camera and adapter for the electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic camera capable of transmitting high quality image data to an external device, without providing a dedicated terminal. SOLUTION: This camera has electronic image pick up means, which obtain an image signal, signal processing means (4, 5) and 6 which convert the image signal into image data, a compressing means 12 which performs compression of the image data, a mounting mechanism 31 to which a recording medium 13 recording compressed image data or an adapter 21 for communicating with an external device 22 is selectively attached, a detecting means 41 for detecting which is attached to the mechanism 31 between the medium 13 and the adapter 21, and a control means 8. Thus, control is performed so that the compressed image data are supplied to the medium 13 when the medium 13 is attached to the mechanism 31, based on the output of the means 41 and that an compressed image data can be supplied to the adapter 21, when the adapter 21 is attached.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic camera and an adapter device used to electrically connect the electronic camera to an external device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic camera, digitized image data obtained by a photographing operation is subjected to compression processing or the like, and is written into a recording medium such as a memory card detachably mounted on a camera body. As required, a function of transmitting data through an external line has been added, and the function and the range of use have become extremely diverse. In particular, it is difficult to sufficiently perform various types of image processing on image data using only the camera alone, and it is more realistic to perform the processing using a personal computer or the like.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to transmit image data obtained by an electronic camera to a personal computer for image processing, for example, separately from a memory card slot in which a memory card is removably mounted in a camera body. And a dedicated terminal such as RS-232C for outputting image data. In this way, when transmitting image data from an electronic camera to a personal computer for image processing, first, when photographing a subject, the image data obtained by the photographing operation is compressed and written to a memory card, and then the image data is At the time of transmission, the compressed image data written in the memory card is read out, transmitted to the personal computer via the dedicated terminal and the connection cable, and saved in the memory means such as the hard disk of the personal computer. ,
After the stored data is read out and decompressed by a decompression circuit, necessary image processing such as panorama processing is performed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-980 discloses an interface card having a built-in communication circuit detachably mountable in a memory card slot of an electronic camera, and an external device connected to the interface card via a cable. An electronic camera and an external device are connected using a communication adapter device having a connection unit for the camera, and compressed image data obtained by photographing with the electronic camera is directly transmitted to the external device via the communication adapter device. What is disclosed is disclosed.

Further, a dedicated terminal such as SCSI is provided in the camera body, and the image data obtained by shooting is recorded on a medium without being compressed, and is connected to an external device such as a personal computer or the like via a connection cable without being compressed. There is also known an electronic camera for direct transmission.

[0006]

However, in the case of transmitting image data by compressing it, the image quality is reduced by the compression processing. However, there is a problem that the image quality of the image data deteriorates. Also, RS-232 is used for the electronic camera.
In the case where a dedicated terminal such as C or SCSI is provided to transmit image data, there is a problem that the size of the camera body becomes large because the dedicated terminal is provided.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem. A first object of the present invention is to provide high-quality image data without providing a dedicated terminal, and thus to increase the size of the camera body. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic camera that is appropriately configured so as to be able to transmit to an external device without performing.

Further, a second object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera adapter device suitable for electrically connecting the electronic camera to an external device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the first object, the present invention provides an electronic image pickup means for obtaining an image signal corresponding to a subject image, and a signal processing for converting the image signal into image data. Means, compression means for compressing the image data to obtain compressed image data, and an adapter device for communicating with at least a recording medium or an external device suitable for recording the compressed image data. A mounting mechanism adapted to be mounted, detecting means for detecting whether the recording medium or the adapter device is mounted on the mounting mechanism, and the mounting mechanism based on an output of the detecting means. When it is recognized that the recording medium is mounted on the recording medium, the compressed image data obtained by the compression means is supplied to the recording medium, and the adaptation mechanism is supplied to the mounting mechanism. Control means for controlling to supply the image data obtained by the signal processing means to the adapter apparatus without passing through the compression processing means when it is recognized that the apparatus is mounted. It is assumed that.

With this configuration, the image data can be transmitted to the external device without compression by providing the mounting mechanism with the adapter device instead of the recording medium without providing a dedicated connection terminal for the adapter device. The camera body can be reduced in size, and high-quality image data can be transmitted to an external device.

In one embodiment of the present invention, further, discriminating means for discriminating a type of the external device which performs communication through the adapter device mounted on the mounting mechanism, and a plurality of types corresponding to the type of the external device And a program selecting means for selecting one suitable communication program from the program storing means in accordance with the discrimination result by the discriminating means and applying the selected communication program to communication with the external device. . This makes it possible to support various external devices.

Further, the present invention provides an electronic image pickup means for obtaining an image signal corresponding to a subject image, a signal processing means for converting the image signal into image data, and a compressed image data by compressing the image data. Compression means for obtaining the compressed image data, a mounting mechanism adapted to selectively mount an adapter device for communicating with at least a recording medium or an external device suitable for recording the compressed image data, and the mounting mechanism Detection means for detecting whether the recording medium or the adapter device is mounted on the recording medium, and detecting the type of the adapter device, and mounting the recording medium on the mounting mechanism based on an output of the detection means. When it is recognized that the compressed image data is obtained, the compressed image data obtained by the compression unit is supplied to the recording medium, and the mounting mechanism is mounted on the mounting mechanism. Is recognized, the compressed image data obtained by the compression means or the uncompressed image data obtained by the signal processing means is selectively selected according to the type of the adapter apparatus. And control means for controlling the supply.

[0013] This makes it possible to support various external devices and transmit compressed image data or uncompressed image data according to the external device. In addition, since it is not necessary to provide a connection terminal dedicated to the adapter device, it is possible to reduce the size of the camera body.

In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided receiving means for receiving a control signal supplied from an external device via the adapter device mounted on the mounting mechanism, and based on the control signal received by the receiving means. To control the operation. If you do this,
Since the electronic camera can be controlled from an external device, various system configurations using the electronic camera become possible.

Further, in order to achieve the second object,
In the adapter device according to the present invention, a detachable connection portion is provided in the mounting mechanism of the electronic camera. With this configuration, it is not necessary to provide a connection terminal dedicated to the adapter device on the electronic camera side, and the size of the camera body can be reduced. Here, in the case of the adapter device attached to the electronic camera according to the first or fourth aspect, an external device communication circuit for performing communication between the electronic camera and the external device can be provided in the adapter device itself. If you do this,
Since there is no need to provide an external device communication circuit on the electronic camera side, the configuration on the electronic camera side can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced. Also, if this external device communication circuit is provided at the connection portion of the adapter device, the connection portion on the electronic camera side and the connection portion on the external device side can be simply connected by a cable. Can be simplified.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the first embodiment of the electronic camera according to the present invention. This electronic camera uses a single-chip type color CCD image pickup device 1.
A subject image is formed via a lens 2 having a zoom function and an aperture / shutter mechanism 3, and the subject image is photoelectrically converted and output as an imaging signal. The imaging signal of the subject image from the CCD imaging device 1 is removed by a correlated double sampling circuit or the like (not shown) to remove noise components, then amplified by an amplifier 4, and further converted to a digital signal by an A / D converter 5. The signal is supplied to the signal processing circuit 6, where it is processed as image data.

The output of the A / D converter 5 is AF, A
Also supplied to the E and AWB detection circuit 7, where prior to the actual photographing, AF detection processing for extracting AF information for automatically controlling focus, and AE information for automatically controlling exposure are extracted. An AE detection process and an AWB detection process for extracting AWB information for automatically setting a white balance are performed. This AF, AE,
AF information, AE information and AW from AWB detection circuit 7
The B information is sent to the lens 2, aperture,
It is supplied to the shutter mechanism 3 and the camera signal processing circuit 6.

The camera signal processing circuit 6 and the CPU 8
Connected to a bus line 9, a DRAM 11 used as a working memory when performing color processing of image data and the like via a memory controller 10 via the memory controller 10, and an image from the camera signal processing circuit 6. A compression circuit (JPEG) 12 for compressing data is connected. Further, the bus line 9 records the image data compressed by the compression circuit 12 on the memory card 13 and reads out the image data recorded on the memory card 13 with a memory card communication circuit 14. Circuit 1
4, a decompression circuit 15 for decompressing the compressed image data read from the memory card 13 via the
5, a display circuit 17 for displaying on the built-in liquid crystal display element (LCD) 16 the image data expanded in 5 and the photographing state such as the image quality mode, and the compression circuit 12 compresses the image data from the camera signal processing circuit 6. Without processing, an external device (here, a personal computer) 22 via the adapter device 21
And a personal computer (PC) communication circuit 23 for transmission to the PC.

The CPU 8 includes a strobe device 25.
And a memory card communication program for compressing and recording the image data from the camera signal processing circuit 6 on the memory card 13, and the PC 22 via the adapter device 21 without compressing the image data from the camera signal processing circuit 6.
A memory 26 for storing a PC communication program to be transmitted to the PC and an input key 27 for setting various photographing modes and driving a trigger switch are connected. Note that C
The CD imaging device 1 is driven by a timing pulse from a timing generator (TG) 28 under the control of the CPU 8.

Here, the memory card 13 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 1, the memory card slot 31 constituting the mounting mechanism is detachably mounted.

In this embodiment, the PC 22 is connected to the memory card slot 31 via the adapter device 21 instead of the memory card 13. For this reason, the adapter device 21 has a first connector 2 having substantially the same shape and the same terminal structure as the memory card 13 as a connection portion detachably mountable in the memory card slot 31.
1a, and the first connector 21a is connected to the PC 22 via the communication cable 21b and the second connector 21c.
For example, an expansion slot, a PC card slot or a communication port.

On the electronic camera side, a slot detecting means 41 is provided in the memory card slot 31 for determining whether the memory card 13 is mounted or the first connector 21a of the adapter device 21 is mounted. This slot detecting means 41 is, for example,
And the connector 21a of the
Whether the predetermined terminals of the memory card 13 and the first connector 21a are at a high level or a low level is detected and determined by logic, or the address is read by the memory card communication circuit 14 to determine. The configuration is as follows.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the slot detecting means 41 detects that the memory card 13 is loaded in the memory card slot 31, the memory card communication stored in the memory 26 is performed. The image data from the camera processing circuit 6 is compressed by the compression circuit 12 in accordance with the program 45 and the memory card communication circuit 14
Is recorded on the memory card 13 via When the slot detecting means 41 detects that the first connector 21 a of the adapter device 21 is attached to the memory card slot 31, the P stored in the memory 26 is
In accordance with the C communication program 46, the image data from the camera processing circuit 6 is transmitted from the PC communication circuit 23 to the PC 22 via the adapter device 21 without being compressed by the compression circuit 12, thereby being recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk of the PC 22. To be displayed on the display.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the adapter device 21 is installed in the memory card slot 31, the image data is transmitted to the PC 22 without compression, so that the image quality is reduced by the compression. Thus, high-quality image data can be transmitted to the PC 22 without causing a problem. Further, by providing the PC communication circuit 23, communication between the electronic camera and the PC 22 can be performed by SCSI,
It can be performed in a general-purpose communication format such as parallel communication, IEEE 1394, or USB (universal serial bus).

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the electronic camera according to the present invention.
1 shows a schematic configuration of an embodiment. In this embodiment, in the first embodiment, the memory card slot 31
In addition to the memory card 13 and the PC 22, adapter devices 55, 56, and 5 which correspond to other media cards 51, large-capacity media 52 such as a hard disk or a magneto-optical disk, a printer 53, a monitor 54, and the like
7 and 58 to selectively attach. In addition,
First connector 55 of adapter device 55, 56, 57, 58 detachably mounted in memory card slot 31
a, 56a, 57a and 58a have substantially the same shape as the memory card 13 and have the same terminal structure.

On the electronic camera side, a memory 26
In addition to the memory card communication program 45 and the PC communication program 46, a communication program corresponding to each of the above-mentioned external devices, that is, another media card communication program 6
1. A large-capacity media communication program 62, a printer communication program 63, and a monitor communication program 64 are stored. In addition to the memory card communication circuit 14 and the PC communication circuit 23, other programs for performing communication in accordance with the above communication programs are also provided. A media card communication circuit 65, a large capacity media communication circuit 66, a printer communication circuit 67, and a monitor communication circuit 68 are provided.

In this way, the slot detecting means 41 detects the adapter device installed in the memory card slot 31 to determine the external device, and responds according to the communication program corresponding to the connected external device. Uncompressed image data from the camera signal processing circuit 6 or compressed image data from the compression circuit 12 are transmitted via the communication circuit and the adapter device. In FIG. 3, in the case of the memory card 13, the other media card 51, and the large-capacity medium 52, the compressed image data is transmitted,
In the case of the monitor 54, uncompressed image data is transmitted and
In the case of the printer 22 and the printer 53, compressed image data or uncompressed image data is selectively transmitted.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the communication program and the communication circuit corresponding to various external devices are provided on the electronic camera side, according to the external device to be connected,
Desired data of compressed image data and uncompressed image data can be transmitted.

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the electronic camera according to the present invention.
1 shows a schematic configuration of an embodiment. In this embodiment, the PC communication circuit 23 is provided inside the first connector 21a of the adapter device 21 in the configuration shown in FIG. In this way, the cost of the electronic camera can be reduced.

Although the PC communication circuit 23 is provided inside the first connector 21a of the adapter device 21 in FIG. 4, it can be provided at any position of the adapter device 21. Further, such a configuration can be effectively applied to the case of FIG.

In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, when the PC 22 is connected to the memory card slot 31 via the adapter device 21 in each of the above embodiments,
From 22, the operation of the electronic camera is controlled. Therefore, the PC communication circuit 23 receives the control data from the PC 22 and transmits the control data to the CPU 8 according to the PC communication program 46 stored in the memory 26.
Mode setting such as image quality mode based on the control data,
ON / OFF setting of the strobe device 25 at the time of release, ON / OFF setting of the liquid crystal display element 16, AF, AE, AW
B control, zoom switching, and the like are performed.

As described above, if the operation of the electronic camera is controlled by the PC 22 when the PC 22 is connected to the electronic camera, the uncompressed or compressed image data obtained by the electronic camera is efficiently transmitted to the PC 22. be able to.

[0033]

According to the electronic camera of the present invention, an adapter device can be mounted on the mounting mechanism instead of the recording medium, and when the adapter device is mounted, the adapter device can be mounted without compressing image data. Since the data is transmitted to the external device via the external device, the connection terminal dedicated to the adapter device is not provided, so that the camera body can be downsized and high-quality image data can be transmitted to the external device.

Further, according to the adapter device of the present invention, the attachment mechanism for attaching the recording medium of the electronic camera is provided with the detachable connection portion, so that the external device can be connected to the electronic camera via the adapter device. Can be easily connected to

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a first embodiment of an electronic camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the electronic camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a third embodiment.

[Description of Signs] 1 CCD imaging device 2 lens 3 aperture / shutter mechanism 6 camera signal processing circuit 8 CPU 12 compression circuit (JPEG) 13 memory card 14 memory card communication circuit 21 adapter device 21a first connector 21b communication cable 21c 2 connector 22 Personal computer (PC) 23 PC communication circuit 26 Memory 31 Memory card slot 41 Slot detecting means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/92 F term (Reference) 5C022 AB00 AB12 AB15 AB22 AB66 AC03 AC42 AC69 AC75 CA00 5C053 FA23 FA27 GA11 GB21 GB36 KA05 KA08 KA24 LA03 LA06 LA11 LA14

Claims (9)

[Claims] An electronic imaging unit that obtains an image signal corresponding to a subject image; a signal processing unit that converts the image signal into image data; and a compression unit that compresses the image data to obtain compressed image data. A mounting mechanism adapted to selectively mount at least a recording medium suitable for recording the compressed image data or an adapter device for performing communication with an external device; and the recording medium mounted on the mounting mechanism. Or detecting means for detecting which of the adapter devices is mounted, and, based on an output of the detecting means, when it is recognized that the recording medium is mounted on the mounting mechanism, the compression is performed. The compressed image data obtained by the means is supplied to the recording medium, and when it is recognized that the adapter device is mounted on the mounting mechanism, the signal is transmitted. An electronic camera, characterized in that it comprises a control means for controlling to supply to the adapter device without passing through the compression processing means image data obtained by the processing means. 2. The electronic camera according to claim 1, further comprising an external device communication circuit for communicating with the external device. 3. The electronic camera according to claim 1, further comprising: a discriminating unit for discriminating a type of the external device that performs communication through the adapter device mounted on the mounting mechanism, and corresponding to the type of the external device. Storage means for storing a plurality of types of communication programs to be executed, and program selection means for selecting one suitable communication program from the program storage means in accordance with the result of discrimination by the discrimination means and applying the selected communication program to communication with the external device And an electronic camera comprising: 4. An electronic imaging unit for obtaining an image signal corresponding to a subject image; a signal processing unit for converting the image signal into image data; and a compression unit for compressing the image data to obtain compressed image data. A mounting mechanism adapted to selectively mount at least a recording medium suitable for recording the compressed image data or an adapter device for performing communication with an external device; and the recording medium mounted on the mounting mechanism. Or detecting means for detecting which of the adapter devices is mounted, and detecting the type of the adapter device; and mounting the recording medium on the mounting mechanism based on an output of the detecting unit. Is recognized, the compressed image data obtained by the compression unit is supplied to the recording medium, and the adapter device is mounted on the mounting mechanism. When it is recognized that the compressed image data obtained by the compression means or the uncompressed image data obtained by the signal processing means is selectively supplied to the adapter device according to the type. An electronic camera, comprising: 5. The electronic camera according to claim 4, further comprising a plurality of external device communication circuits for communicating with a plurality of external devices respectively corresponding to the plurality of types of adapter devices. . 6. The electronic camera according to claim 1, further comprising a receiving unit that receives a control signal supplied from the external device via the adapter device mounted on the mounting mechanism. An electronic camera, wherein the operation is controlled based on a control signal received by the receiving means. 7. An adapter device for electrically connecting the electronic camera according to claim 1 to an external device, wherein said mounting mechanism has a detachable connection portion. Adapter device to do. 8. An adapter device for electrically connecting the electronic camera according to claim 1 or 4 to an external device, wherein the connection device is detachable from the mounting mechanism, and the electronic camera is connected to the external device. An adapter device comprising: an external device communication circuit for performing communication between the adapter devices. 9. The adapter device according to claim 8, wherein the external device communication circuit is provided in the connection unit.