JP2001298688A - Digital camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To clearly and stably take out a voice comment which is added to a still image. SOLUTION: An image file recorded in an external recording medium 16 is stored in a memory 11 through an interface circuit 15. The image file stored in the memory 11 is supplied to a liquid crystal panel 13 through a display circuit 12 so that the image file recorded in the external recording medium 16 is displayed in the liquid crystal panel 13. Besides, voice information, for example, is provided in the image file which is recorded in the external recording medium 16. When voice information is comprised in the image file recorded in the medium 16, the voice information is extracted by a voice processing circuit 5 and converted into an analog voice signal. The converted analog voice signal is discharged from a speaker 7 through an amplifier 6. Then voice information is reproduced, which is provided in the image file which is recorded in the external recording medium 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital camera device suitable for use, for example, for recording and reproducing a still image. More specifically, a good still image is reproduced by adding audio information to the still image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a digital camera device,
It is possible to record information other than the image together in the image file to be recorded and reproduced. Therefore, for example, by adding audio information to a still image, it has been considered to output information of an imaging environment such as an imaging location, an imaging date and time, and a subject name as an audio comment in accordance with the reproduction of the still image. According to this, by outputting these pieces of information in audio along with the reproduction of the still image, it is possible to increase interest in the reproduced still image and perform good reproduction of the still image. is there.

A method of adding audio information to such image information is, for example, an MPEG (Moving) method.
Picture coding Experts Gr
It is conceivable to use a moving image file format such as the (up) method. However, the MPEG system was originally conceived for recording and reproducing moving images, and has a large software and hardware configuration. For example, a digital camera which is basically considered to record and reproduce still images is used. It cannot be easily adopted in the device.

In addition, for example, in order to record audio information together with image information by the MPEG system, audio information is recorded at the same time as image information is photographed. In this case, there is a possibility that ambient noise and the like may be mixed. There is a possibility that the voice is indistinct and difficult to hear, and the volume becomes unstable.
On the other hand, when outputting information such as the above-described photographing environment, it is desirable that the sound be easy to hear and stable.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the problem to be solved is that when an audio comment is to be added to a still image, a conventional method is used. In the moving image file format used in the device, the software and hardware configuration becomes large, and there is a risk that the sound becomes unclear or the volume becomes unstable. It cannot be easily adopted in a digital camera device which is basically considered.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the present invention, an image file in which audio information according to a Japanese syllabary is provided at a predetermined position together with digitized image information, and the audio information in this image file is formed. Is extracted to synthesize an audio signal. According to this, an audio comment such as a shooting environment added to a still image can be clearly and stably extracted with a simple configuration.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention relates to a digital camera device provided with a display function for taking a still image, digitizing the image information to form an image file, and restoring and displaying the image file. A voice synthesizing function of synthesizing an audio signal by extracting an audio file in which audio information in accordance with a syllabary table is provided at a predetermined position together with digitized image information and extracting audio information in the image file; And output means for outputting the generated audio signal.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of a digital camera device to which the present invention is applied. In the following description, an embodiment in which a moving image can be recorded by using, for example, the MPEG method will be described. However, recording of a moving image is not essential in the present invention.

In FIG. 1, there is provided a lens 1 which faces the outside of a digital camera device and forms a photographing unit. An image pickup device (CCD) 2 provided inside the lens 1
For example, a still image is captured. An image signal captured by the image sensor 2 is supplied to an image processing circuit 3 to generate an image file. Further, a microphone 4 is provided facing the outside of the digital camera device. For example, when shooting in the MPEG system, this microphone 4
Is supplied to the audio processing circuit 5 to generate audio information.

Further, the audio processing circuit 5 has a function of converting, for example, audio information into an analog audio signal.
Then, the analog audio signal converted by the audio processing circuit 5 is amplified by the amplifier 6 and emitted from a speaker 7 provided on the outside of the digital camera device, for example.
The power supply circuit 8 is supplied with an input voltage generated by, for example, a battery pack 9 which is detachably provided from the outside of the digital camera device. A stabilizing voltage for driving an internal circuit of the digital camera device is supplied from the input voltage. Power is formed.

An operation key group 10 is provided facing the outside of the digital camera device. And this operation key group 1
In response to the operation of “0”, for example, an image file generated by the image processing circuit 3 is stored in the memory 11. Further, the image file stored in the memory 11 is supplied to the liquid crystal panel 13 through the display circuit 12. As a result, for example, a still image captured by the
Will be displayed. The control of the response to the operation of the operation key group 10 is performed by, for example, the microcomputer 1.
4 is carried out in accordance with the program provided.

Further, the image file stored in the memory 11 is recorded via an interface circuit 15 on an external recording medium 16 which is detachably provided, for example, from outside the digital camera device. As a result, for example, a still image captured by the image sensor 2 is displayed on the liquid crystal panel 13, and when the still image is a desired one, the image file of the still image is further operated by operating the operation key group 10. Can be recorded on the external recording medium 16 through the interface circuit 15. Thus, the image file is recorded on the external recording medium 16.

The image file recorded on the external recording medium 16 can be stored in the memory 11 through the interface circuit 15. And this memory 1
By supplying the image file stored in 1 to the liquid crystal panel 13 through the display circuit 12, the image file recorded in the external recording medium 16 can be displayed on the liquid crystal panel 13. Further, the image file stored in the memory 11 is taken out through the interface circuit 15 to, for example, an output terminal 17 of an NTSC video signal.

Further, for example, audio information can be provided in the image file recorded on the external recording medium 16.
Therefore, when audio information is included in the image file recorded on the external recording medium 16, the audio information is extracted by the audio processing circuit 5 and converted into an analog audio signal.
Then, the converted analog audio signal is emitted from the speaker 7 through the amplifier 6 and is taken out to the audio signal output terminal 18 through the interface circuit 15. Thus, the audio information provided in the image file recorded on the external recording medium 16 can be reproduced.

FIG. 2 shows an external configuration of an embodiment of a digital camera device to which the present invention is applied. That is, FIG. 2A shows the front and bottom surfaces of the digital camera device.
Is provided facing the outside, and the battery pack 9 is provided on the bottom.
There is provided an opening / closing unit for making the unit detachable. FIG. 2
B shows the back, top, and side surfaces of the digital camera device, and the liquid crystal panel 13 and the speaker 7 are provided on the back surface facing outward. Further, an operation key group 10 is provided on the upper surface, and output terminals 17 and 18 are provided on the side surface.

In this digital camera device,
As shown in FIG. 2B, an opening / closing unit for detachably attaching the external recording medium 16 is provided on the bottom surface, and an image file of a still image captured by the image sensor 2 is recorded on the external recording medium 16. Will be The image file recorded on the external recording medium 16 is reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal panel 13. The recording of the image file on the external recording medium 16 and the control of the reproduction of the image file from the external recording medium 16 are controlled by an operation key group 10 provided on the upper surface of the digital camera device.

That is, the operation key group 10 provided on the upper surface of the digital camera device includes, for example, a power key 10a for controlling power on / off as shown in FIG.
Y), still image shooting (STILL), and moving image shooting (MO
VIE) is provided with a switching key 10b and a shutter key 10c. Also, F for performing the sequential advance of the reproduced image
W key 10d, RV key 10e for reverse playback of the reproduced image
Is provided. Further, a comment key 10f for controlling output of a voice comment is provided. The recording and reproduction of the image file described above is performed using the operation key group 10.

Further, an image file recorded on the external recording medium 16 by the operation of the operation key group 10 is transmitted to, for example, an arbitrary personal computer (not shown).
Is used to write audio information. That is, the voice information is, for example, in accordance with the Japanese syllabary as shown in FIG.
0B 2E 2D 1A02 09 16 0C 13
0B 12 04 02 0C 1F 0C10 F
The hexadecimal value data of F ″ is formed.

In this voice comment, for example, the voices of the first "F", the sixth "C", the 14th to 16th "Tweet", the 18th "MA", and the 20th "TA" are output. Placing accents can improve sound quality. So as an identification to put accents on these sounds,
For example, by adding “1” to the most significant bit of the hexadecimal value, “9C 350 B 2E 2D 9A 02
09 16 0C13 0B 92 84 82 0
It is converted to hexadecimal value data of C 9F 0C 90 FF ".

On the other hand, when the image file recorded on the external recording medium 16 is, for example, in the Exif file format, the file format is as shown in FIG. 5, for example.

Here, the addresses "00 to 15" correspond to Exif
Indicates the start of the file. Address "16-21" is Ma
Indicates keTag. Address "22 to 2D" is Mode
Indicates lTag. Address "2E-39" is Orien
Indicates the TationTag. The addresses “3A to 46” indicate the XResolutionTag. Address “47
"52" indicates the YResolutionTag. Address "53-60" indicates the ResolutionUnitT.
ag. Address “6A-75” is DateTime
Indicates eTag.

Addresses "76 to 81" are YCbCr
Indicates PositioningTag. Address "82
８8D ”indicates the ExifIFDPointerTag. The address“ 8E〜91 ”indicates the NextOffsetT.
ag. Addresses “92 to 97” indicate Make. Address “98 to A5” indicates Model. The address “A6 to AD” indicates the XResolution.
Addresses “AE to B5” indicate YResolution. The addresses "B6 to C9" are dates, and indicate January 1, 2000 in this example.

In the normal format, addresses "CA to F3" are first set to normal software (NORMA).
LSOFT) "4E 4F 52 4"
D41 4C 53 4F 46 54 30 ”is provided and the following data is set to“ 00. ”Further, Exif file data (ExifFD) is provided after address“ F4. ”In this way, for example, Exif A normal image file in a file format is formed, and the above-mentioned format is known as an Exif file format.

On the other hand, when writing audio information, for example, as shown in FIG.
~ F3 ", sound software (SOUNDSOF
T), for example, "53 4F 55 4E
44 53 4F 4654 3A "are provided.
Then, following this, the above-mentioned voice comment “9C35
0B 2E 2D 9A 02 09 16 0C 1
3 0B 9284 82 0C 9F 0C 90
The hexadecimal value data of "FF" is provided, and the following data is set to "00".

In this way, for example, audio information for forming an audio comment is written into an image file in the Exif file format. When the audio information is further reproduced, a configuration as shown in FIG. 7 is provided as a function of converting the audio information into an analog audio signal in the audio processing circuit 5 described above.

That is, voices include voiced sounds with vocal cord vibrations such as vowels and unvoiced sounds without vocal cord vibrations such as consonants. Therefore, the pulse data output from the sound source pulse generator 71 is used as a sound source for generating a voiced sound, and the noise data output from the noise generator 72 is used for generating an unvoiced sound. The filter 75 corresponds to a vocal tract such as a mouth and a tongue. And changes in the vocal tract can be replaced by changes in filter coefficients,
By changing this coefficient, it is possible to arbitrarily output the 50 sounds and the presence or absence of accent.

The pulse data from the sound source pulse generator 71 and the noise data from the noise generator 72 are supplied to a switch 73, and the switch 73 switches the voiced sound of the audio information extracted from the image file. And digital data representing an unvoiced sound. Further, the signal switched by the switch 73 is supplied to the amplifier 7.
4 to the filter 75, and this filter 75
Are changed according to the digital data of the 50 sounds and the presence or absence of accents of the audio information extracted from the image file.

In this way, it is possible to realize D / A conversion of an audio signal which enables utterance of 50 tones composed of voiced sounds and unvoiced sounds and the presence or absence of accents. When such an audio processing function is provided in the audio processing circuit 5, the formed analog audio signal is transmitted to the amplifier 6 described above.
The audio signal is output from the speaker 7 through the interface circuit 15 and is output to the audio signal output terminal 18 through the interface circuit 15. As a result, audio information provided in the image file recorded on the external recording medium 16 can be reproduced.

Therefore, in this embodiment, an image file in which audio information according to the Japanese syllabary is provided at a predetermined position together with the digitized image information is formed, and the audio information in this image file is extracted to generate an audio signal. By synthesizing, a voice comment such as a shooting environment added to a still image can be clearly and stably extracted with a simple configuration.

As a result, when an audio comment is to be added to a still image, the configuration of software and hardware becomes large and the sound becomes unclear in the moving image file format used in the conventional apparatus. According to the present invention, there is a possibility that the digital camera device that can be easily adopted in a digital camera device, for example, in which recording and reproduction of a still image is basically considered, because These problems can be easily solved.

In the above-described embodiment, the format of the image file is not limited to the Exif file format.
EG (Joint Photographic Ima)
Also, in the coding expert group method, a software name or audio information to be used can be recorded in an application area or the like of the header portion. Alternatively, the above-described audio information can be recorded using another image file format. The recorded audio information can be reproduced by the above-described device.

In the above-described embodiment, since the comment key 10f is provided in the operation key group 10, the reproduction of the voice comment is stopped when the voice comment is unnecessary or when the sound emission is prohibited. can do.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, data indicating sound software (SOUNDSOFT) provided at the beginning of the address "CA to F3" in the image file is determined, and audio information is recorded. May be displayed. By doing so, it is possible to eliminate the possibility of misunderstanding or the like caused by the fact that audio information is not reproduced when normal software is reproduced.

In the above embodiment, for example, MP
When a moving image can be recorded and reproduced by using the EG method, the amplifier 6 and the speaker 7 for reproducing the audio comment can also be used for reproducing the audio signal accompanying the moving image. The configuration can be simplified.

As described above, according to the digital camera device described above, a display function is provided for photographing a still image, digitizing the image information to form an image file, and restoring and displaying the image file. An image file in which audio information according to the Japanese syllabary is provided at a predetermined position along with the information is supplied. By providing the output means, a voice comment such as a shooting environment added to the still image can be clearly and stably taken out with a simple configuration.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0037]

Thus, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an image file in which audio information according to the Japanese syllabary is provided at a predetermined position together with digitized image information is formed. By extracting and synthesizing the audio signal, an audio comment such as a shooting environment added to the still image can be clearly and stably extracted with a simple configuration.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, information relating to an accent is added to the audio information, and the audio synthesizing function is reproduced by synthesizing the audio signal using the information relating to the accent. The sound quality of the audio signal can be improved.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the selection means for selecting whether or not to output the synthesized voice signal is provided. For example, when the voice comment is unnecessary, the reproduction of the voice comment is stopped. Can be done.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the display means for displaying the presence or absence of the audio information in the image file is provided. This can eliminate the fear of occurrence.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a function of reproducing a moving image is provided, and an output unit of an audio signal accompanying the moving image and an output unit of a combined audio signal are used. The circuit configuration can be simplified.

As a result, when an audio comment is to be added to a still image, the configuration of software and hardware becomes large and the audio becomes unclear in the moving image file format used in the conventional apparatus. According to the present invention, there is a possibility that the digital camera device that can be easily adopted in a digital camera device, for example, in which recording and reproduction of a still image is basically considered, because These problems can be easily solved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a digital camera device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating an appearance of a digital camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part for the explanation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a Japanese syllabary table for the explanation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a file format of normal software.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a file format of sound software.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a function of converting audio information into an analog audio signal.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Lens, 2 ... Image sensor, 3 ... Image processing circuit, 4 ... Microphone, 5 ... Sound processing circuit, 6 ... Amplifier, 7 ... Speaker, 8 ... Power supply circuit, 9 ... Battery pack, 10 ...
Operation key group, 11 memory, 12 display circuit, 13 liquid crystal panel, 14 microcomputer, 15 interface circuit, 16 external recording medium, 17 NTSC
Video signal output terminal, 18 ... Audio signal output terminal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/225 G10L 3/00 Q 5/907 5/04 F 5/91 H04N 5/91 R // H04N 101: 00 JF term (reference) 5C022 AA13 AB68 AC01 AC13 AC18 AC32 AC69 AC71 AC72 CA00 5C052 AA03 AA17 AB04 CC11 DD02 DD06 EE02 EE03 GA02 GA07 GB07 GC05 5C053 FA10 FA23 FA27 GB11 GB38 JA03 JA16 KA04 KA21 A30 AB01 5A

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A digital camera device provided with a display function of photographing a still image, digitizing the image information to form an image file, and restoring and displaying the image file, wherein the digitalized The image file in which audio information according to the Japanese syllabary is provided at a predetermined position together with the image information is supplied, a voice synthesizing function of extracting the audio information in the image file and synthesizing an audio signal, And an output means for outputting a sound signal. 2. The digital signal according to claim 1, wherein information relating to an accent is added to said voice information, and said voice signal is synthesized using said information relating to said accent in said voice synthesizing function. Camera device. 3. The digital camera device according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit for selecting whether or not to output the synthesized audio signal. 4. The digital camera device according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the presence or absence of said audio information in said image file. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function of reproducing a moving image, wherein an output unit for outputting an audio signal accompanying the moving image and an output unit for outputting the synthesized audio signal are used. Digital camera device.