JP2000209535A - Electronic album system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic album system where missing and overwrite of important pictures due to erroneous operation of a user can be prevented in advance. SOLUTION: A notch 80 provided to a large capacity recording medium 8 to alternatively set a standard mode or other mode can be manually skidded in an opening of the large capacity recording medium 8. When the notch 80 is set toward a center of the large capacity recording medium 8, the standard mode is set, and when the notch 80 is set toward the end of the large capacity recording medium 8, other mode than the standard mode setting is indicated. Prior to write of image data to the large capacity recording medium 8, the mode of the large capacity recording medium 8 is detected. When the detected mode is the standard mode, overwrite to image data in the same file name stored in the same folder of the large capacity recording medium 8 is inhibited and delete of the image data stored in the large capacity recording medium 8 is inhibited.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic album apparatus for storing, for example, images taken by an electronic camera apparatus in a large-capacity recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the widespread use of electronic camera devices, consumer electronic album devices for storing images captured by the electronic camera devices in a large-capacity recording medium have become widespread. The electronic album device for consumers is mainly used in homes. Therefore, assuming that the user does not have sufficient knowledge about the operation of the device or is not familiar with the operation, it is desired to provide an easy-to-use device with improved operability. .

It is desirable that an original image downloaded first from an electronic camera device and whose copy does not exist at that time be permanently stored in a recording medium unless a special operation is performed by a user. However, in a conventional electronic album apparatus, a user can arbitrarily perform a file operation of erasing or overwriting an image already stored in a recording medium. This may cause a problem when a user who is not familiar with the operation is assumed. For example, there are more cases where a user accidentally deletes an important image such as an original image already recorded on a recording medium by an erroneous operation, or overwrites an important image with another image.

[0004] The erroneous operation here occurs for the following reason, for example.

(1) A user who is unfamiliar with the operation often lacks common sense knowledge of the operation that should pay close attention to the operation of erasing or overwriting an image.

(2) Since the recording medium used in the electronic album apparatus has a large capacity, it is possible to store a large amount of images on the same recording medium. As the image accumulation operation is repeatedly performed over a long period of time, it becomes difficult for the user to grasp the accumulation state of the image in detail. This is also true for users who are skilled in operation.

[0007] From such a viewpoint, the conventional electronic album apparatus is not always easy to use for a user who does not have sufficient knowledge about the operation of the apparatus or who is not familiar with the operation. Was.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide an electronic album apparatus capable of preventing loss or overwriting of important images due to a user's erroneous operation. And

[0009]

An electronic album apparatus and a recording medium according to the present invention which solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objects are as follows.

[1] The electronic album apparatus of the present invention sets a mode for selectively setting a standard mode or another mode as a mode for writing / erasing data to / from the applied recording medium. Means, writing means for writing data to the recording medium, detecting means for detecting the setting content of the mode setting means, and when the setting content detected by the detecting means is the standard mode, And control means for controlling the writing means so as to prohibit an overwriting operation on data of the same identification name recorded on the recording medium and to prohibit an erasing operation on data recorded on the recording medium. It is characterized by:

According to this configuration, the overwriting operation and the erasing operation are prohibited in the standard (normal) mode.

[2] The electronic album apparatus according to the present invention is the apparatus according to the above [1], further comprising input means for inputting, from a memory card, data written by the writing means to the recording medium. It is characterized by.

[3] The electronic album apparatus according to the present invention is the apparatus according to the above [1], further comprising communication means for communicating with an electronic camera apparatus, and wherein the writing means is an electronic device provided by the communication means. It is characterized in that data received through communication with the camera device is written to the recording medium.

[4] The electronic album apparatus of the present invention is the apparatus according to any one of the above [1] to [3], wherein the data is image data or audio data of a still image or a moving image. It is.

[5] The recording medium of the present invention has a data recording means for recording data, an overwriting operation on data of the same identification name recorded on the data recording means, and recording on the data recording means. And a mode setting means for selectively setting a standard mode for prohibiting an erasing operation on the set data and another mode.

[6] A recording medium of the present invention according to the above [5], wherein the data is image data or audio data of a still image or a moving image.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic album apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an electronic album device according to the present invention and an electronic camera device connected to the electronic album device.

The electronic album device 1 is roughly divided into a CPU
4, switches SW1 and SW2, and photoreflector P
R1 and PR2, light emitting diodes D1 and D2, a drive control IC 5, and an LCD (liquid crystal display) 6 are provided so that a memory card 7 and a large-capacity recording medium 8 can be mounted.

The memory card 7 is, for example, an SSFDC (Sol
id State Floppy Disk Card), which is removably attached to a memory card slot (not shown). The user can pull out the memory card 7 from the memory card slot and replace it with another memory card as necessary.

One or more images already taken by an electronic camera device or the like are recorded on a memory card 7 as a supply source of an image to be stored, and these images are recorded in a large capacity in the form of an electronic album. The data is read from the memory card 7 to be stored in the medium 8.

The contents of the operation in this case are as follows, for example. That is, first, the memory card 7 is mounted on the electronic camera device 2, and an image obtained by photographing with the electronic camera device 2 is recorded on the memory card 7, and then the memory card 7 is stored in the electronic album device 1. Installing.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the electronic camera device 2 and the electronic album device 1 are connected via a connection cable 3, and the image of the electronic camera device 2 is received by communication via the connection cable 3. It is also possible to take (download) the data into the album device 1. In this case, the electronic camera device 2 is a source of the storage target image. Note that, for example, IrDA (Indication) is performed between the electronic album apparatus 1 and the electronic camera apparatus 2 instead of the wired communication via the connection cable 3.
It may be configured to perform infrared data communication (wireless communication) based on the frared data association standard.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a part of the configuration of the electronic camera device.

The electronic camera device 2 includes an optical lens, a CCD,
(Solid-state imaging device), A / D converter, compression / expansion circuit, LC
D (liquid crystal display), a photographing processing system 14 including a strobe light (not shown), a CPU 10, a switch SW
4 and a connection with the electronic album apparatus 1 is detected by a switch SW4 that is turned on / off in accordance with insertion / extraction of the connector 16.

The operation of the electronic camera device 2 when a subject is photographed is as follows. That is, the subject image formed through the optical lens is detected by the CCD, and thereby an analog electric signal representing the subject image is obtained.
This electric signal is converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter and supplied to a compression / expansion circuit. The compression / expansion circuit compresses the image data based on this signal according to a known image compression method. Thereby, final image data is obtained. This image data is written to the memory card 12 via the CPU 10.

In the electronic album apparatus 1, connection with the electronic camera apparatus 2 is detected based on a switch SW1 which is turned on / off in accordance with insertion / removal of the connector 9, and connection with the memory card 7 is made in the same manner. Switch SW2 that turns ON / OFF according to insertion / extraction of card 7
Is detected based on

When the electronic camera device 2 is connected to the electronic album device 1 as described above and the memory card 7 is also inserted, one of the supply sources (devices) is determined in accordance with an appropriately determined priority. ) Can be selected. Alternatively, the selection may be made according to an instruction based on an operation input from the user.

The large-capacity recording medium 8 is, for example, a magneto-optical (Mag).
It is composed of a neto-Optical) disk, and is detachably mounted on a magneto-optical disk drive (not shown). This magneto-optical disk drive has a drive control I
It is controlled by the CPU 4 via C5.

The electronic album device 1 according to the present embodiment has a structure shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), there is provided a means for detecting the reflected light at the notch 80 due to the light emission from the light emitting diode D1 with the photo reflector PR1. Thereby, the recording medium 8
Can be detected. The contents of the notch setting will be described later. In addition, there is provided a means for detecting, with the photoreflector PR2, reflected light from the case portion due to light emission from the light emitting diode D2. This makes it possible to detect whether or not the recording medium 8 is mounted, that is, whether or not the large-capacity recording medium 8 is mounted in the drive.

The LCD 6 is a display means provided with a touch panel, and is used for inputting an operation from an operator and performing display. The operation input here is for giving an instruction to start an image storage process and an instruction to delete an image.

In the electronic album device 1 and the electronic camera device 2, still images, moving images, sounds, and other information are equivalent to "files (data)" in accordance with a predetermined format defined in a specific file system. Can be handled. In the present embodiment, the information is collectively referred to as “image” and the data is referred to as “image data” for simplification of description.

The electronic album device 1 of the present embodiment has the following features according to the present invention.

First, the large-capacity recording medium 8 is provided with setting means for selectively setting the standard mode and other modes. The setting means comprises an index (index) previously recorded in a predetermined area of the notch 80 and the large-capacity recording medium 8.

The electronic album device 1 of the present embodiment
Detects the mode set in the setting means of the large-capacity recording medium 8 before writing the image data to the large-capacity recording medium 8. When the mode detection result is the standard mode, the overwriting operation on the image data of the same file name (identification name) recorded in the same folder of the large-capacity recording medium 8 is prohibited, and Erasing operation for the image data recorded in the.

The standard mode mentioned here is a mode set for the large-capacity recording medium 8 by default from the time of shipment, and the user has intentionally operated to cancel the standard mode. Except in the normal case, the standard mode is set for the large-capacity recording medium 8 at normal times. The operation of intentionally canceling the standard mode means that the user operates the notch 80 or performs an instruction operation such as rewriting an index (index) previously recorded in a predetermined area of the large-capacity recording medium 8. That is.

The detection of the mode set in the setting means of the large-capacity recording medium 8 is performed as follows.

When the notch 80 which can be manually slid in the opening of the large-capacity recording medium 8 is set at a position near the center of the medium 8, the light emitted from the light emitting diode D1 passes through the opening. pass. Therefore, no reflected light enters the photoreflector PR1. Thereby, it is detected that the standard mode is set.

On the other hand, when the notch 80 is set at a position near the end, the light emitted from the light emitting diode D1 is reflected by the notch 80 and enters the photo reflector PR1. This detects that a mode other than the standard mode is set (cancellation of the standard mode).

Also, a predetermined area of the large-capacity recording medium 8 is accessed, the index (index) is read, and it is determined whether the standard mode is set or another mode is set.

Although the setting means has been described as including the notch 80 and the index (index) recorded on the large-capacity recording medium 8, such setting means may be constituted by only one of them.

The operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The electronic album device 1 of this embodiment executes the main process after completing the initial process started when the power is turned on. In the main processing, the electronic camera device 2
The image storage is appropriately performed automatically in response to the detection of the establishment of the connection with the device or the automatic detection of the insertion of the memory card 7, or manually (for example, when a predetermined instruction is given from the user via the touch command screen of the LCD 6). Processing or image deletion processing is started.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the image storing process of the electronic album device according to the present embodiment.

[Step S1] The free capacity (remaining capacity) of the large-capacity recording medium 8 is checked.

[Step S2] The file size of the image to be stored is compared with the free space of the large-capacity recording medium 8 inspected in step S1, and it is determined whether or not the capacity is insufficient, that is, the file size is equal to the free space. Is determined. If the capacity is insufficient, proceed to step S3,
If not, the process proceeds to step S6.

[Step S3] A predetermined message is displayed on the LCD 6 and a warning sound is issued to warn the user to replace the large-capacity recording medium 8 with another medium.

[Step S4] It is determined whether or not the large-capacity recording medium 8 has been newly replaced with another medium. This determination is based on the photo reflector PR2. That is, when a series of operations of removing the currently mounted large-capacity recording medium 8 and mounting another large-capacity recording medium is performed, the output value of the photoreflector PR2 is turned on.
-OFF-ON (or OFF-ON-OFF), so that when the output value change is detected, it is determined that the large-capacity recording medium 8 has been replaced.

Even after a lapse of a predetermined time, the large-capacity recording medium 8
If is not exchanged, the process proceeds to step S5. on the other hand,
If it has been exchanged, the process proceeds to step S1, and the capacity of the new recording medium is detected again.

[Step S5] The electronic album apparatus 1
It is determined whether the electronic camera device 2 or the memory card 7 is being connected. If a connection is being made, continue with step S
The processes from 3 to S5 are repeated. If the connection is not being established, it is determined that the user has forcibly canceled the connection and the image storage process has been canceled, and the process returns to the main process.

[Step S6] It is determined whether or not the supply source of the image to be stored is the memory card 7. If the supply source of the image to be stored is the memory card 7, the process proceeds to step S7; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S8.

[Step S7] One file (image data) of the image to be stored is read from the memory card 7.

[Step S8] It is determined whether or not the supply source of the storage target image is the electronic camera device 2. If the supply source of the storage target image is the electronic camera device 2, the process proceeds to step S9; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S10.

[Step S9] The electronic camera device 2 communicates with the electronic camera device 2 and receives only one file of the storage target image.

[Step S10] If the supply source of the image to be stored is not the memory card 7 or the electronic camera device 2, it is determined that a malfunction due to noise or the like has occurred, and the image storage process is interrupted to proceed to the main process. Return.

[Step S11] It is determined whether the writing of the image file to be stored in the large-capacity recording medium 8 is overwriting. That is, it is determined whether or not a file having the same file name as the file name of the image file to be stored already exists in the large-capacity recording medium 8. In the case of overwriting, the process shifts to step S12; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S1.
Move to 3.

[Step S12] The mode set in the setting means of the large-capacity recording medium 8 is detected, and it is determined whether or not this is the standard mode. If the mode is the standard mode, the process proceeds to step S14; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S13.
Move to That is, overwriting in the standard mode is prohibited in step S12.

[Step S13] If it is not overwriting,
Alternatively, only in the case of overwriting but not in the standard mode, the file of the image to be stored is written to the large-capacity recording medium 8 in step S13.

[Step S14] To avoid overwriting in the standard mode, the file name of the image to be stored is changed to another file name. In this case, the naming rule of the file name is arbitrary. For example, the file name “0001.jpg” of the storage target image is changed to “0001_1.jpg”.

In a general file system, files can be managed hierarchically. Therefore, the folder (directory) representing the hierarchy may be changed, and the storage target image may be written in another hierarchy to avoid overwriting.

Further, it is needless to say that a predetermined message may be displayed on the LCD 6 to notify the user that the file name has been changed.

[Step S15] An erasable flag is added to the original file of the image to be stored.

When the original file of the image to be stored is obtained by communication with the electronic camera device 2, the electronic camera device 2 treats the original file as having a copy. Depending on the configuration of the electronic camera device 2, the original file is quickly deleted after storage in the electronic album device.

[Step S16] It is determined whether the image file to be stored is the last file. In other words, if the file is the last file, the image storage process ends and the process returns to the main process.
Get the next image file.

According to the electronic album apparatus of the present embodiment which performs the above-described image storage processing, when the important image has already been recorded on the large-capacity recording medium 8 and the same file as the important image is used. Even if the user does not recognize that another image with the same name is going to be stored (this is determined as “erroneous operation”), the overwriting of the important image in the standard mode is prevented beforehand ( Step S
12). More specifically, the other images are stored with their file names changed (step S14).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the erasing process of the electronic album apparatus according to the present embodiment.

[Step S21] The mode set in the setting means of the large-capacity recording medium 8 is detected, and it is determined whether or not this is the standard mode. If the mode is the standard mode, the process proceeds to step S23; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S22.
Move to

[Step S22] Here, since the mode is not the standard mode, the image specified by the user is deleted from the large-capacity recording medium 8.

[Step S23] Here, a message indicating that the setting of the large-capacity recording medium is in the standard mode is displayed on the LCD 6, and a warning display indicating that the image deletion instruction is rejected is displayed. In this way, image deletion in the standard mode is prohibited.

According to the electronic album apparatus of the present embodiment, which performs the above-described processing when an instruction to delete an image is given by a user, it is possible to prevent loss of an important image due to an erroneous operation.

(Features of the Embodiment) [1] The electronic album apparatus described in the embodiment has a standard mode as a mode for writing / erasing data to / from the applied recording medium (8) and a mode other than the standard mode. Mode setting means (80) for selectively setting the mode, and writing means for writing data to the recording medium (8).
(5) detecting means (4, PR1, D1) for detecting the setting content of the mode setting means (80), and the setting content detected by the detecting means (4, PR1, D1) is the standard mode In this case, the overwriting operation on the data with the same identification name recorded on the recording medium (8) is prohibited, and the writing operation is performed so as to prohibit the erasing operation on the data recorded on the recording medium (8). Control means (4) for controlling the means (5).

[2] The electronic album apparatus described in the embodiment is the apparatus according to the above [1], wherein the writing means (5) writes data to be written to the recording medium (8) to a memory card (7). ) Is further provided.

[3] The electronic album apparatus described in the embodiment is the apparatus according to the above [1], further comprising communication means (3) for communicating with the electronic camera apparatus (2). The writing means (5) writes the data received by the communication means (3) with the electronic camera device (2) to the recording medium (8).

[4] The electronic album device according to the embodiment is the device according to any one of [1] to [3], wherein the data is image data of a still image or a moving image, or audio data. It is what it was.

[5] Recording medium (8) shown in the embodiment
Is a standard for prohibiting an overwriting operation on data having the same identifier recorded on the data recording means, and a erasing operation on data recorded on the data recording means. And a mode setting means (80) for selectively setting one of the above modes and the other modes.

[6] Recording medium (8) shown in the embodiment
Is data according to the above [5], wherein the data is image data or audio data of a still image or a moving image.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be implemented with various modifications.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic album apparatus capable of preventing loss or overwriting of important images due to user's erroneous operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic album device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram showing a part of the configuration of the electronic camera device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating image storage processing of the electronic album apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating an erasing process of the electronic album apparatus according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic album apparatus 2 ... Electronic camera apparatus 3 ... Connection cable 4 ... CPU SW1, SW2 ... Switch PR1, PR2 ... Photoreflector D1, D2 ... Light emitting diode 5 ... Drive control IC 6 ... LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 7 ... Memory Card 8: Large-capacity recording medium 80: Notch

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A mode setting means for selectively setting a standard mode or another mode as a mode relating to writing / erasing of data on a recording medium to which the recording medium is applied, and data on the recording medium. Writing means for writing data; detecting means for detecting the setting content of the mode setting means; and when the setting content detected by the detecting means is the standard mode, the same identification recorded on the recording medium. An electronic album apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls the writing unit so as to prohibit an overwriting operation on data of a name and an erasing operation on data recorded on the recording medium. 2. The electronic album apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit for inputting data to be written on the recording medium by the writing unit from a memory card. 3. A communication device for communicating with an electronic camera device, wherein the writing device writes data received by the communication device with the electronic camera device on the recording medium. Item 2. The electronic album device according to Item 1. 4. The electronic album apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is image data or audio data of a still image or a moving image. 5. A data recording means for recording data, prohibiting an overwriting operation on data of the same identification name recorded on said data recording means, and performing an erasing operation on data recorded on said data recording means. A recording medium, comprising: mode setting means for selectively setting a prohibited standard mode and another mode. 6. The recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the data is image data or audio data of a still image or a moving image.