JP2001245181A - Apparatus and method for displaying image accompanied information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent leakage of the contents of accompanying information, using a specific setting which is known only to an original user in an operating method for displaying the contents of the accompanying information on a display monitor. SOLUTION: The apparatus for display of image accompanied information comprises a liquid crystal monitor 11 for displaying an attendant information of an image, an operating means 15a-15c, an operation memory part 14b for storing prescribed plural operation contents of the operating means 15a-15c determined voluntarily by an external operation, a control means 14 for allowing the display of the accompanying information on the liquid crystal monitor 11, in the case of matching between the contents of the operation by the operating means 15a-15c and the prescribed plural operation contents stored in the operation memory part 14b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information display apparatus and an image information display method, and more particularly, to an image information display method and an image information display method.
The present invention relates to display of additional information of an image in an image input device such as a digital still camera or a scanner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a digital optical system in which an object optical image incident from a photographing lens is photoelectrically converted by an image pickup device such as a CCD, and an image signal obtained by the photoelectric conversion is A / D converted and recorded on a recording medium. Cameras are known. In addition, there is also known a digital camera that stores, with an image, information attached to an image of a photographed date, a photographer, and the like with respect to an image photographed by the digital camera and manages the information. JP-A-09-31
In the digital camera disclosed in 1926, the image information stored in the first storage unit and the supplementary information of the image such as text information stored in the second storage unit are superimposed and displayed on a monitor. It is configured.

On the other hand, with the recent progress in digital image processing, it has become easy to publish high-quality images taken by a digital camera on the Internet, or to transmit electronic images by e-mail. By arbitrarily downloading the disclosed and transmitted image to a personal computer, it has become possible to easily obtain image information having the same image quality as the creator. However, there is a problem that an unknown third party prints out and uses such high-quality digital images with high image quality without the permission of the creator, which has become a serious problem in recent years. In other words, it is a general problem of copyright.

For example, when the author publishes image information on the Internet and the viewer purchases desired image information from the disclosed images, if anyone can use the high-quality image information as it is, there is no limit. The image information is leaked, and the creator of the image may be damaged. In other words, even if the original image is purchased at first, if the original image and the purchased image cannot be distinguished from each other, it can be said that a copy of the purchased image is sold to another person falsely as the creator. . In this case, there is no charge to the creator, and the higher the image quality, the greater the loss.

[0005] In order to solve such a problem, many methods have been proposed in which encrypted watermark information, called a digital watermark, is incorporated into image information or the like, and copyright is protected by invisible or visible information.

A technique for protecting the copyright of an original image is disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,530,755.
No. 9 discloses a technique of adding visible encrypted information by partially changing the luminance of image information.

As described above, when information encrypted as a digital watermark is added to main image information, especially when the additional information is embedded in a digital camera as an invisible watermark, the contents of the additional information can be easily read by a third party. It is desirable not to be seen by others. That is, for example, a third party imitates the same watermark embedded in an image taken by a famous photographer, embeds it in another image, and publishes the other image falsely as the photographer's work This is to prevent such injustice.

[0008]

By the way, in the conventional digital camera, the contents of the information attached to the image such as the photographing date and time and the photographer's ID number can be easily displayed together with the image on the display monitor. . For example, by pressing a button for displaying information provided on the camera,
Anyone could easily display the contents of the information on the built-in monitor. Therefore, when encrypting the information accompanying such an image as a digital watermark and embedding it in the image, it is necessary to display the content of the encrypted information with care so that it cannot be easily seen by a third party. However, the conventional digital camera did not have such a configuration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has made an operation method for displaying the contents of supplementary information on a display monitor unique to only the original user, thereby leaking the contents of the supplementary information. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image accompanying information display device and an image accompanying information display method which can avoid the above problem and, in turn, can be protected by copyright.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, an image supplementary information display device of the present invention is arbitrarily set by a display means for displaying supplementary information of an image, an operation means, and an external operation. An operation storage unit configured to store a plurality of predetermined operation contents of the operation unit; and an operation unit configured to execute the operation when the operation performed by the operation unit matches the predetermined plurality of operation contents stored in the operation storage unit. Operation collation means for permitting display of the supplementary information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image supplementary information display method for storing a plurality of predetermined operation contents of operation means arbitrarily set by an external operation and performed by the operation means. The display of the image accompanying information stored in the storage means is permitted when the operation and the stored predetermined operation contents match.

[0012] According to the above configuration, the operation method for displaying the content of the information attached to the image on the display monitor can be set to a unique setting that can be known only by the original user. Can be prevented from being imitated by a third party.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the display means decrypts the supplementary information embedded in the image and displays it.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, an image pickup means for receiving a subject image and converting it into an image signal, and storing the image signal converted by the image pickup means in the image storage means together with the supplementary information. Further comprising storage control means,
The display means reads out the supplementary information together with the image signal from the image storage means and displays the information.

Preferably, the operation storage means can store a plurality of types of the predetermined plurality of operation contents according to a storage method of the supplementary information in the image storage means by the storage control means.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the complexity of the plurality of types of the predetermined plurality of operation contents stored in the operation storage means is high, and the confidentiality of the storage method of the storage control means is high. Height corresponds.

According to the above arrangement, the sequence for embedding the additional information in the image information is changed according to the difficulty of the operation for displaying the contents of the additional information.
It is possible to balance the degree of confidentiality of the embedded additional information and the operability for display, and to provide an image additional information display device that meets the needs of each user.

Further, according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the operation means has a plurality of operation members, and the predetermined plurality of operation contents are operation contents by the plurality of members.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the plurality of operating members operate the operating means in a state in which a predetermined mode is not set, so that the plurality of operating members are provided on the image-attached information display device with a predetermined number. By performing the operation and operating the operating means in the state where the predetermined mode is set, the predetermined information is stored in the operation storage means without causing the image accompanying information display device to perform the predetermined operation. Has a mode setting member for storing a plurality of operation contents.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of operating members operate the operating means in a state where a predetermined mode is not set, so that the plurality of operating members can be displayed on the image accompanying information display device. A predetermined operation is performed, and by operating the operation unit in a state where the predetermined mode is set, the operation collating unit is operated without causing the image accompanying information display device to perform the predetermined operation. A mode setting member for determining whether or not the operation of the operation unit matches the predetermined plurality of operation contents stored in the storage unit;

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the operation storage means stores the predetermined plurality of operation contents as:
The type and order of operations are stored.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the operation collating means does not match the operation performed by the operation means with the predetermined plurality of operation contents stored in the operation storage means. In this case, a warning is issued without displaying the supplementary information by the display means.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the supplementary information is encrypted digital watermark information.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image accompanying information display device is a digital camera.

According to the above configuration, the operating member functioning at the time of photographing by the digital camera also functions as a setting member for displaying additional information, so that the setting means can be mounted without increasing the cost. .

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image accompanying information display device is a camera.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image accompanying information display device is a scanner.

[0028] This makes it possible to set a unique setting that allows only the original user to know the operation method when displaying the content of the information attached to the image on the display monitor.

Further, by setting the display of the supplementary information using a combination of signals input from a plurality of external operation members, it is possible to prevent the third party from easily seeing the information.

Furthermore, the sequence for embedding the additional information in the image information is changed according to the difficulty of the operation performed to display the contents of the additional information. Operability for the balance.

[0031]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a digital camera will be described. However, the present invention may be applied to other image accompanying information display devices such as a scanner.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a digital camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The digital camera described in the first embodiment is configured so that a video output signal is sent to a built-in liquid crystal monitor so that a captured image can be reproduced on a screen on the monitor and line drawing information such as characters can be displayed in addition to the image. It is configured.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an imaging lens;
An image sensor such as a CD. The subject image passes through the imaging lens 1 and forms an image on the image sensor 2. Reference numeral 3 denotes a photometric lens, and reference numeral 4 denotes a photometric sensor. An aperture 5 and a shutter 6 determine the amount of exposure to the image sensor 2 by the operation of the aperture 5 and the shutter 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes an imaging circuit which samples and amplifies an output signal of the imaging element 2.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an image processing circuit which performs predetermined processing such as white balance, exposure adjustment, and γ correction on image signals of R, G, and B colors output from the image sensor 2. Reference numeral 9 denotes a memory control circuit which stores an image subjected to image processing in the memories 9a, 9b, 9c,
A process for performing shading correction on the image stored in a and optimizing the image data and storing the optimized image data in another memory 9b, or adding additional information to the image data to perform address control of new image data and the like. Is performed.

An image output circuit 10 converts an image digital signal obtained through the memory control circuit 9 into an analog signal and functions as an output buffer to the liquid crystal monitor 11. Reference numeral 12 denotes an image recording circuit, which is a data output buffer for recording image data in which incidental information accompanying an image dictated from the memories 9a and 9b is encrypted and embedded in a recording medium 13 such as a CF card.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a main control circuit including a microcomputer or the like for controlling the entire sequence. The main control circuit 14 includes a switch that is linked to the operation of an operation unit 15, which will be described later. Control the driving of the components. An information storage unit 14a in the main control circuit stores and manages encrypted information attached to an image. The information attached to the image may be any information such as a photographing date and time, a photographer ID number, a photographing camera ID number, and a comment created by a user.
In the first embodiment, the method of inputting the supplementary information is not specified. An operation storage unit 14b in the main control circuit stores the types and operation order of operation buttons described later. Reference numeral 14c denotes an operation determination unit that determines whether or not an operation according to the type and operation order of the operation buttons stored in the operation storage unit 14b has been performed when displaying information attached to the image. Reference numeral 14d denotes a display processing unit that performs processing for decrypting the code data of the encrypted supplementary information to be displayed on the display monitor according to a predetermined algorithm and displaying the code data as text.

Reference numeral 15 denotes an operation unit which is provided on a camera exterior unit so that a user can input various commands to the digital camera. 15a is an operation button 1,
For example, a release button for starting an imaging operation, 15
b is an operation button 2, for example, a mode setting button for setting a self-timer, and 15c is an operation dial, for example, an operation dial for setting a shutter time. Also, 15d
Is a mode dial for switching an operation mode including an imaging mode, a reproduction mode, an operation setting mode described later with reference to FIG. 3, and a collation operation mode described later with reference to FIG. An image reading circuit 16 reads image data from the storage medium 13.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the digital still camera having the above-mentioned configuration according to the first embodiment of the present invention at the time of imaging. Hereinafter, the operation of the digital still camera will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The operation shown in FIG. 2 is performed when the mode dial 15d is set to the imaging mode.

First, in step S11, when the main power switch of the digital camera is turned on, the digital camera enters a photographable state, that is, a standby state for the next operation. Thereafter, in step S12, the main control circuit 14 constantly monitors the change of the switch in conjunction with the pressing of the release button 15a.

When the release button 15a is depressed, a photometric operation is started according to the previous stroke (half-pressed state) of the button (step S13), and the photometric sensor 4 is activated.
Detects the light amount of the subject and outputs photometric value data. In step S14, the microcomputer of the main control circuit 14 calculates an appropriate exposure based on the output photometric value data. Subsequently, according to the subsequent stroke (fully pressed state) of the release button 15a (YES in step S15),
In step S16, the aperture 5 and the shutter 6 are operated in accordance with the appropriate exposure amount to perform an exposure operation on the image sensor 2.

In accordance with the above-mentioned exposure operation, the output signal of the image sensor 2 is sampled and amplified by the image pickup circuit 7, and predetermined image data is formed by the image processing circuit 8;
Then, the image data is stored in the memory 9a through (step S17).

When the supplementary information of the photographed image is to be incorporated into the image data, new image data is formed by controlling the address of the image data in step S18 and stored in the memory. This is a step of embedding so-called encrypted digital watermark information in an image.

Next, in step S19, the memories 9a, 9
The image data is sequentially recorded on the recording medium 13 via the image recording circuit 12 from b or 9c.

On the other hand, in step S20, after recording the image data or before or after the recording operation, the image data is sent to the image output circuit 10 at a predetermined timing, and the image is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 11.

The calculation and timing control relating to the operation of recording the image data on the recording medium and the display of the image on the monitor are performed by the microcomputer control of the main control circuit 14 until the main power switch is turned off in step S21. .

Although the description has been given of the case where the additional information of an image is embedded in image data as a digital watermark, the present invention is not limited to this. The additional information is separated from the image data without embedding the electronic watermark. It may be stored as data and managed only by association with the image. In addition, although the captured image information and the supplementary information are superimposed and displayed on the same liquid crystal monitor 11, they may be displayed on separate displays.

In the first embodiment, the image information incorporated in the image data in step S18 of FIG. 2 is not displayed unless an operation set by an operation described later is performed. Hereinafter, an example of an operation of causing the camera to store an operation for displaying information accompanying a stored image on the display monitor in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S21, the mode dial 1
By operating 5d, an operation setting mode for storing an operation method for displaying information accompanying an image of the digital camera is set. In accordance with this, in step S22, the operation members such as the buttons and the dial of the operation unit 15 other than the mode dial 15d are released from the function at the time of shooting, and a standby state for input of a switch signal by these button or dial operation is entered.

Thereafter, in steps S23 and S24, the main control circuit 14 stores the operation of each operation member of the operation section 15 and the order thereof.

For example, first, when the operation button 2 (15b) is pressed, the operation button 2 (15b) is pressed in step S23.
(15b) The change of the switch linked to the pressing of the switch is read. Thereafter, in step S24, the operation storage unit 14
b stores that the operation button 2 (15b) is pressed first. Then, in step S25, an inquiry is made as to whether or not to end the operation setting in the operation setting mode.

If the operation setting is to be continued in the operation setting mode (NO in step S25), the flow returns to step S22, and the operations in steps S23 and S24 are repeated. For example, when the operation button 1 (15a) is subsequently pressed,
In step S23, a change in a switch that is linked to the pressing of the operation button 1 (15a) is read, and the subsequent step S23 is executed.
At 24, the fact that the operation button 1 (15a) is pressed second is stored in the operation storage unit 14b.

Similarly, when the operation dial 15c is rotated, for example, a change in a switch linked to the rotation of the operation dial 15c is read in step S23, and the rotation of the operation dial 15c is stored in the operation storage unit 14b in step S24. I remember what was done third.

The above operation is continued until the end of the operation setting mode is instructed in step S25. When the end of the operation setting mode is instructed in step S25, the operation setting operation ends. Here, when the mode dial 15d is switched to a mode other than the operation setting mode,
The operation setting operation is to be ended.

The types and order of the operating members described above are merely examples, and any operation may be performed any number of times.
User can set freely

Further, when displaying information accompanying an image on a display monitor, it is necessary to operate according to the types and order of the operating members set by the above-described procedure.

Hereinafter, information accompanying the image is displayed on the monitor 1
The operation for displaying on the display 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S31, the mode dial 15d is operated to set a collation operation mode, which is a mode for displaying information accompanying an image of the digital camera. In step S32, the operation members such as the buttons and the dial of the operation unit 15 other than the mode dial 15d are released from the function at the time of photographing, and the apparatus enters a standby state for input of a switch signal by the operation of these buttons and the dial.

Thereafter, in steps S33 and S34, the main control circuit 14 checks the type and order of the operated switches.

For example, in step S33, the operation button 2 (15b) is depressed, and when the change in the switch associated with the depression is read, the operation button 2 (15b) is depressed first in step S34. The determination as to whether or not the operation is correct is made according to the type and order information of the operation buttons stored in the operation storage unit 14b.
4c performs.

If it is correct (YES in step S34),
Proceeding to step S35, the process returns to step S32 until all stored operations are completed, and accepts a switch change of the operation member. Then, in step S33, the operation button 1
When (15a) is pressed and the change of the switch linked to the pressing is read, in step S34, it is determined whether or not the second pressing of the operation button 1 (15a) is correct by the operation storage unit 14b. The operation determination unit 14c performs the operation according to the information on the type and the order of the operation buttons stored in the.

Subsequently, in step S33, the operation dial (15c) is rotated, and when a change in a switch associated with the rotation is read, it is determined whether or not the third rotation operation of the operation dial (15c) is correct. The operation determination unit 14c determines whether or not the operation has been performed, according to the information on the type and order of the operation buttons stored in the operation storage unit 14b.

When the switch changes of all the operating members are accepted and the collation is OK (steps S35 and S36), the encrypted image attached to the image recorded on the recording medium 13 via the image reading circuit 16 in step S37. The information is decoded into text by the display processing unit 14d, read out together with the image, and displayed on the display monitor.

If the operation determining unit 14c determines that the operation received in step S33 is different from the stored operation (NO in step S34), the collation has failed (step S38). The information attached to the image is not displayed on the display monitor 11.

The display monitor 11 indicates that the collation has failed.
To inform the user that the collation operation was incorrect by displaying a warning message or sounding a warning sound.

The image recorded on the recording medium 13 is
If the encrypted supplementary information is simply displayed on the display monitor 11 without being decrypted into text, the operation unit 15
It can be done by a predetermined operation.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the setting for displaying the supplementary information by the combination of the signals input from the plurality of external operation members in the camera is made, and the image is attached to the display monitor. By setting the operation method for displaying the content of the information to a unique setting that only the original user can know, it is possible to prevent a third party from imitating a digital watermark to be embedded in the image.

Further, by using an operation member functioning at the time of photographing with the digital camera as a setting member for setting an operation for displaying supplementary information, setting means can be mounted without increasing cost. In addition, by performing setting for displaying the additional information using a combination of signals input from a plurality of operation members, it is possible to prevent a third party from easily seeing. Accordingly, a digital camera protected by copyright can be provided.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described.

In the first embodiment, one type of operation is set as an operation for displaying the supplementary information of an image. In the second embodiment, a plurality of types of operations are performed by changing the difficulty of the operation content. Operation is set,
A case will be described in which the user selects one of a plurality of operations when embedding the additional information in the image information, and the sequence of storing the additional information can be changed according to the difficulty level of the selected operation.

The configuration of the digital camera according to the second embodiment is the same as the configuration of the digital camera described with reference to FIG. 1 in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will not be repeated.

Hereinafter, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The operation of the digital camera according to the second embodiment during shooting will be described.

First, in step S41, when the main power switch of the digital camera is turned on, the digital camera enters a photographable state, that is, a standby state for the next operation. Thereafter, in step S42, the main control circuit 14 constantly monitors the change of the switch in conjunction with the depression of the release button 15a.

When the release button 15a is depressed, a photometric operation is started according to the previous stroke (half-pressed state) of the button (step S43), and the photometric sensor 4 is activated.
Detects the light amount of the subject and outputs photometric value data. In step S44, the microcomputer of the main control circuit 14 calculates an appropriate exposure based on the output photometric value data. Subsequently, according to the subsequent stroke (fully pressed state) of the release button 15a (YES in step S45),
In step S46, the aperture 5 and the shutter 6 are operated in accordance with the appropriate exposure amount to perform an exposure operation on the image sensor 2.

In accordance with the above-mentioned exposure operation, the output signal of the image sensor 2 is sampled and amplified by the image sensor 7, and predetermined image data is formed by the image processor 8.
Then, the image data is stored in the memory 9a through (step S47).

Thereafter, in the second embodiment, prior to the process of embedding the incidental information of the photographed image in the image data as a digital watermark, the degree of difficulty of the operation for displaying the incidental information specified by the user is determined. Make a decision.
Here, it is assumed that the operations of two types of difficulty levels, level A and level B, are set in the digital camera in advance by the method described according to the flowchart of FIG.
Level A is, for example, a case where the number of operations of the operation member is two or less, and is a level at which the operation for displaying the content of the supplementary information is easy, and level B is a case where the number of operations of the operation member is three. This is a case where the operation for displaying the contents of the supplementary information is difficult, even if the number of times is more than one.

In step S48, it is determined whether the difficulty level of this operation is level A or level B.

If the level is determined to be level B (step S
At 48, step S49), the supplementary information is not displayed by a simple operation. Therefore, it is desirable that such a camera user has a high awareness of confidentiality of the information display, and the camera should be in a state of giving priority to confidentiality. Therefore, the embedding sequence B is selected such that the digital watermark embedded in the image information cannot be easily removed in step S50, and the image information is formed and stored in the memory in step S52.

On the other hand, if the level is determined to be level A (YES in step S48), information is displayed by a simpler operation than level B, so that the camera places more importance on operability than confidentiality. It is desirable. Therefore, in the step S51, the sequence A to be embedded in the image information is selected as the sequence A that can manage the data amount to a small amount, and the image information is formed in the step 52 and stored in the memory.

Next, in step S53, the memories 9a, 9
The image data is sequentially recorded on the recording medium 13 via the image recording circuit 12 from b or 9c.

On the other hand, in step S54, after the image data is recorded or before or after the recording operation, the image data is sent to the image output circuit 10 at a predetermined timing, and the image is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 11.

In the second embodiment, the level A
Is less than or equal to 2 times and the level B is 3 or more times, but the number is not limited to this number. Also, the number of level divisions may be not only two sets of A and B but also two or more sets.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the setting for displaying the additional information is performed by the combination of the signals input from the plurality of external operation members in the camera, and the image is attached to the display monitor. By setting the operation method for displaying the content of the information to a unique setting that only the original user can know, it is possible to prevent a third party from imitating a digital watermark to be embedded in the image.

Further, the sequence for embedding the additional information in the image information is changed in accordance with the difficulty of the operation for displaying the contents of the additional information. Operability can be balanced, and a camera that meets the needs of each user can be provided.

(Correspondence between Configurations and Embodiments in Claims) In the above embodiments, the image output circuit 1
0, the display monitor 11, the display processing unit 14d is a display unit described in the claims, the operation unit 15 is an operation unit described in the claims, and the operation storage unit 14b is an operation unit described in the claims. In the storage unit, the operation determination unit 14c is an operation collation unit described in the claims, the image sensor 2 is an imaging unit described in the claims, and the image recording circuit 12 is the storage control unit described in the claims. Mode dial 15
d corresponds to each of the mode setting members described in the claims.

The above is the correspondence between the configuration described in the claims and the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the functions or implementations described in the claims are not limited. The present invention can be applied to any configuration as long as the function of the configuration of the embodiment can be achieved.

For example, in the above embodiment, the information accompanying the image is displayed together with the image. However, this may be such that only the information accompanying the image can be displayed. In this case, the information accompanying the image is not read out from the image, but is read from the information storage unit 14a of the above embodiment.
May be read from the memory.

Further, the software configuration and the hardware configuration of the above embodiment can be replaced as appropriate.

The present invention may be implemented by combining the above embodiments or their technical elements as necessary.

Further, the present invention relates to the constitution of the claims,
Alternatively, the whole or a part of the configuration of the embodiment may form one device or may be a component of the device.

The present invention also relates to a video movie camera,
Video still cameras, cameras using silver halide film,
Cameras of various forms, such as interchangeable shooting lens cameras, single-lens reflex cameras, lens shutter cameras, surveillance cameras,
Furthermore, imaging devices such as scanners other than cameras, optical devices, and other devices, furthermore, those cameras, imaging devices,
The present invention can be applied to a device, a method, a medium such as a computer-readable storage medium, and elements constituting these devices, which are applied to an optical device and other devices.

[0091]

As described above, according to the present invention, the operation method for displaying the contents of the information attached to the image on the display monitor can be set to a unique setting that only the original user can know. It is possible to prevent a third party from imitating incidental information such as a digital watermark to be embedded in an image.

Further, by using an operation member for operating the image input device as a setting member for setting an operation for displaying supplementary information, setting means can be mounted without increasing cost, and By setting the display of the supplementary information using a combination of signals input from a plurality of operation members, it is possible to prevent the third party from easily seeing the information.

Also, by changing the sequence for embedding the additional information in the image information according to the difficulty of the operation to display the contents of the additional information, the degree of confidentiality of the additional information to be embedded and the display of the additional information are changed. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image supplementary information display device that meets the needs of each user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a digital camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the digital camera according to the first exemplary embodiment at the time of shooting.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation for storing an operation for displaying information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for displaying information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the digital camera according to the second exemplary embodiment at the time of shooting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 imaging lens 2 imaging element 3 photometry lens 4 photometry sensor 5 aperture 6 shutter 7 imaging circuit 8 image processing circuit 9 memory control circuit 9 a, 9 b, 9 c memory 10 image output circuit 11 liquid crystal monitor 12 image recording circuit 13 recording medium 14 Main control circuit 14a Information storage unit 14b Operation storage unit 14c Operation determination unit 14d Display processing unit 15 Operation unit 15a Operation button 1 15b Operation button 2 15c Operation dial 15d Mode dial

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Claims (15)

[Claims] A display unit for displaying supplementary information of an image; an operation unit; an operation storage unit for storing a plurality of predetermined operation contents of the operation unit arbitrarily set by an external operation; 2. An operation collating means for permitting display of said incidental information by said display means when an operation to be performed matches said predetermined plurality of operation contents stored in said operation storage means. Image accompanying information display device. 2. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 1, wherein said display means decrypts and displays said additional information encrypted and embedded in the image. 3. An image pickup means for receiving an object image and converting the image signal into an image signal, and a storage control means for storing the image signal converted by the image pickup means in an image storage means together with the supplementary information, 3. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 1, wherein the means reads out the additional information from the image storage unit together with the image signal and displays the image information. 4. The operation storage means can store a plurality of types of the predetermined plurality of operation contents according to a storage method of the supplementary information in the image storage means by the storage control means. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 3. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a high degree of complexity of the plurality of types of the predetermined plurality of operation contents stored in the operation storage unit corresponds to a high degree of confidentiality of the storage method of the storage control unit. Item 5. The image accompanying information display device according to Item 4. 6. The operation device according to claim 1, wherein the operation means has a plurality of operation members, and the predetermined plurality of operation contents are operation contents by the plurality of members. 2. The image accompanying information display device according to 1. 7. The plurality of operating members operate the operating means in a state where a predetermined mode is not set, thereby causing the image accompanying information display device to perform a predetermined operation, and changing the predetermined mode. A mode setting member that stores the predetermined plurality of operation contents in the operation storage unit without causing the image accompanying information display device to perform the predetermined operation by operating the operation unit in a set state. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 6, comprising: 8. The plurality of operation members operate the operation unit in a state where a predetermined mode is not set, thereby causing the image accompanying information display device to perform a predetermined operation, and setting the predetermined mode. By operating the operation unit in the set state, the operation of the operation unit is stored in the storage unit in the operation collation unit without causing the image accompanying information display device to perform the predetermined operation. 7. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 6, further comprising a mode setting member for determining whether or not the predetermined plurality of operation contents match. 9. The image-attached information display device according to claim 1, wherein the operation storage unit stores an operation type and an order as the plurality of predetermined operation contents. 10. When the operation performed by the operation unit and the predetermined plurality of operation contents stored in the operation storage unit do not match, the operation collation unit performs the additional information by the display unit. 10. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 1, wherein a warning is issued without displaying the information. 11. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 1, wherein said additional information is encrypted digital watermark information. 12. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image accompanying information display device is a digital camera. 13. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image accompanying information display device is a camera. 14. The image accompanying information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image accompanying information display device is a scanner. 15. A plurality of predetermined operation contents of operation means arbitrarily set by an external operation are stored, and stored when an operation performed by the operation means matches the stored plurality of predetermined operation contents. And displaying the image accompanying information stored in the means.