JP2002101367A - Digital camera and printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital camera and a printing system with which a photographed image can easily be looked at even without going through a laboratory shop. SOLUTION: Image data obtained by the photographing of an image picking up part 22 are converted into image data of relative low resolution or thumbnail image data such as image data of a small image size and stored in a thumbnail image storing part 30. A discrimination/instruction data generating part 36 prepares print instruction data and outputs the print instruction data to a portable telephone part 38, and the part 38 performs printing by transferring the data to print equipment 12 while making the print instruction data correspond to the image data. In the case of confirming photographed images later, thumbnail images are sequentially displayed on a liquid crystal displaying part 32 by inputting an instruction to confirm the photographed images to a key inputting part 40.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital camera and a printing system, and more particularly, to a digital camera and a printing system for printing using image data representing an image captured by a digital still camera or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a general camera and photographic printing method, a photographed negative film is delivered to a photo lab or a DP reception shop, and after the processing such as simultaneous printing is completed, the negative film is received. Further, in a conventional electronic still camera, a floppy (registered trademark) disk or an LS
A recording medium such as an I-card is loaded into a camera, and image data is stored in the recording medium.

As described above, in the general camera and photographic print system, it is necessary to use a recording medium such as a negative film or a floppy disk, and it is necessary to deliver these recording media to a developing laboratory or a DP reception shop. It took time and effort to order such as.

Therefore, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-322114, a digital still camera equipped with a memory for storing photographed frames and a memory for transferred images is used to directly convert a photographed image into image data of a subject and the image data of the subject. It is disclosed that the data is transferred to a DP reception shop (lab shop) or the like together with the identification data corresponding to the image data.

According to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-322114, image data taken by a digital still camera can be immediately transferred to a reception shop or the like, so that the memory capacity of the digital still camera can be reduced. ,
The memory can be used efficiently.

[0006]

However, according to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-322114, image data obtained by photographing with a digital still camera is directly stored in a lab after being subjected to image processing such as compression. It is configured to be transferred to Therefore, there is a problem that an image after photographing cannot be directly performed by the digital still camera because no image data is left in the memory of the digital still camera.

[0007] When a photographed image is confirmed by a digital still camera, communication with a lab shop is performed through communication means, and image data is received from the lab shop.
Although it is possible to confirm a captured image with a digital still camera, it is not efficient because it is selected from image data stored in a lab store and received via communication means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a digital camera and a print system which can easily view a photographed image without going through a lab store. I do.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup device for picking up an image of a subject, and the image data is obtained based on image data obtained by the image pickup device. Thumbnail image creation means for creating thumbnail image data having a smaller data volume than data; a thumbnail image storage unit for storing the thumbnail image data; and identification for creating identification data for identifying an image corresponding to the image data. It is characterized by comprising a data creating means and a data communication means for transferring the image data and the identification data.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, thumbnail image data having a smaller data size than image data is generated by the thumbnail image generating means based on image data obtained by imaging by the imaging means,
It is stored in the thumbnail image storage. For example, the thumbnail image creation unit uses a JPEG (Joint Photog) from bitmap data obtained by imaging by the imaging unit.
raphic Expert Group), GIF (Graphic Interchange)
format) and image data in a data format such as TIFF (Tag Image File Format) and reduce the image size. In other words, since thumbnail images having a smaller data capacity than storing image data are stored, a relatively large amount of thumbnail image data can be stored in the thumbnail image storage unit.

In the identification data creating means, identification data for identifying an image is created corresponding to image data obtained by being imaged by the imaging means. Then, the identification data is transferred by the communication means together with the image data. For example, a print can be created by transferring the image data and the identification data to a print unit that creates a print installed in a lab store or the like. Further, by transferring the image data to a storage medium such as a server, the image data can be stored.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the thumbnail image data is stored in the thumbnail image storage unit, even if the image data is transferred by the communication unit, the image captured by the imaging unit can be confirmed. Can be confirmed by reading the thumbnail image data stored in the thumbnail image storage unit. For example, by connecting a monitor or the like to the digital camera, it is possible to display and confirm a thumbnail image from the read thumbnail image data on the monitor.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a digital camera that allows a user to easily view a photographed image without going through a laboratory.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a display unit for displaying an image is further provided.

According to the invention described in claim 2, according to claim 1
In the invention described in the above, the display means for displaying an image is provided in the digital camera, and the captured image or the thumbnail image is displayed based on at least image data obtained by imaging by the imaging means or thumbnail image data. At the same time, and the photographed image can be confirmed immediately after the photographing. Therefore, the photographed image can be easily browsed without going through a lab shop or the like.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital camera according to the first or second aspect, receiving means for receiving the image data and the identification data transferred from the digital camera, and An image database that manages data based on the identification data, a printing unit that creates a print from the image data read from the image database, and the printing unit that uses print instruction data that specifies operating conditions of the printing unit. And a print control unit that controls

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
Alternatively, the image data and the identification data transferred from the digital camera according to claim 2 are received by the receiving means, and the image data is managed based on the identification data in the image database, so that the image data can be read out from the identification data. This can be easily performed. Further, the image data managed by the image database is printed by controlling the printing means in accordance with the print instruction data of the print control unit.

That is, a print can be made by the printing means based on the image data transferred from the digital camera according to the first or second aspect.

In the digital camera according to the first or second aspect, the thumbnail image data is stored in the thumbnail image storage unit even after the image data has been transferred to the receiving means such as a lab store. Is stored in
The captured image can be confirmed based on the thumbnail image data. Therefore, it is possible to provide a print system that allows a user to easily view a captured image without going through a lab or the like.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The print system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a digital still camera 10 and a print facility 12 installed in a laboratory. The digital still camera 10 and the printing equipment 12 are connected by a mobile phone line 14. The digital still camera 10
It comprises a still camera body 16, a data communication section 18, and a system controller 20 for controlling these.

The still camera body 16 includes an imaging unit 22, an image processing unit 24, a memory 26, and a thumbnail image creation unit 2.
8, a thumbnail image storage unit 30, and a liquid crystal display unit 32. The imaging unit 22 includes a three-plate image area sensor, and captures an image of a subject. The image processing unit 24 performs A conversion after performing γ conversion and well-known image processing.
/ D conversion, and outputs the result to the memory 26. Memory 26
Is composed of two frame memories (not shown). When data compression processing or the like is performed in one frame memory, image data from the image processing unit 24 can be written in the other frame memory. . The thumbnail image creation unit 28 creates image data having a relatively low resolution, data having a small image size, and the like (hereinafter, referred to as thumbnail image data) based on the image data written in the memory 26. The created thumbnail image data is stored in the thumbnail image storage unit 30. The thumbnail image creation unit 28 converts image data such as bitmap data obtained by imaging by the imaging unit 22 into image data in a data format such as JPEG, GIF, or TIFF, and reduces the image size. Thus, the data capacity may be further reduced.

The thumbnail image data is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 32 in accordance with an instruction from the system controller 20. Note that an image may be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 32 based on the image data stored in the memory 26.

The data communication unit 18 includes a data compression unit 34,
It comprises an identification / instruction data generation unit 36 and a mobile phone unit 38. The data compression section 34 reads digital image data for one frame from one of the frame memories of the memory 26 and JPEG-compresses the image data at a compression ratio of about 1/10 to 1/20. The compressed image data is sent to a mobile phone unit 38 described later based on an instruction from the system controller 20. It should be noted that the data compression method is not limited to JPEG, and other well-known compression methods may be used.

The identification / instruction data generating section 36 generates identification number data (ID data) for specifying a camera user and print instruction data corresponding to various print instructions input from the key input section 40. These identification / instruction data are sent to the mobile phone unit 38. The print instruction data includes index print instruction data, one-frame print instruction data, print size data, print number data, print reception instruction data, image data storage instruction data, image data medium recording instruction data, and the like. Also, special print instruction data such as panorama print and trimming print can be input. When these print instruction data are set in advance, they are stored in a memory included in the identification / instruction data generating unit 36, and are output until their contents are changed thereafter. The print reception instruction data indicates a desired print reception time and a reception method such as mailing, home delivery, or store delivery.

The portable telephone section 38 associates the compressed image data with the identification / instruction data and transfers the data to the lab using the well-known portable telephone line 14. The modem 42 and the portable telephone And a line 14. In the present embodiment, the mobile phone unit 38 identifies image data and
Since only the instruction data is transferred, the call function is omitted. If there is a general telephone line or a public telephone line available nearby, a connection terminal to a line port of a public telephone or the like is provided so that data transfer with priority can be performed. The data transfer is automatically performed after each processing such as imaging, image processing, image recording, and data compression is completed, whereby the image data and the identification / instruction data are stored in the pre-registered print facility 12 of the lab shop. Is transferred. In order to identify each shot frame, a frame identification number is assigned to each image data. As the frame identification number, in addition to simply using the number of shot frames, the shooting date and time data may be used.

The data communication section 18 has a browsing mode for browsing image data transferred to a lab store. In the browsing mode, the digital still camera 10 accesses the image storage file 46 of the lab store, takes in the index image and the single frame image of each frame taken so far into the digital still camera 10, and stores this in the digital still camera 10. Electronic viewfinder and liquid crystal display 3
2. Further, the information is selectively displayed on a display or the like separate from the digital still camera 10.

A printing facility 12 for performing printing based on the transferred image data is installed in the laboratory. The printing equipment 12 includes a data receiving unit 44, an image storage file 46, a digital printer 48, a bill issuing printer 50, and a system controller 52.

The data receiving section 44 comprises a modem 42 connected to the mobile telephone line 14, and a data converting section 43 for decoding data from the modem 42 into image data and identification / instruction data. The image data and the identification / instruction data from the data conversion unit 43 are stored in the image storage file 46 by the system controller 52 using the identification data as search data.

The system controller 52 controls the digital printer 48 to create a hard copy 54 based on the print instruction data, as shown in FIG. First,
The desired print reception time is read out of the print instruction data, and the image data is read out and digitally printed from the print request data that is approaching the desired print reception time. At this time, one-frame print instruction data, index print instruction data, print size data, and print number data of the print instruction data are read, and each print is performed in accordance with these instruction contents. Also, the back printing machine 56
As a result, the identification number and its barcode are printed on the back surface of the hard copy 54.

Further, the system controller 52 calculates the contents of the charge based on the contents of the print processing, and outputs this to the bill issuing printer 50. The bill issuing printer 50 specifies the customer name from the identification number, and prints the bill contents such as the customer name, the delivery date and time, the delivery location, the amount, and the like. In addition, since the identification number and the barcode thereof are also recorded on the bill, by automatically reading them, the finished hard copy 54 is put together for each identification number. Are automatically collated into one unit and packed in a bag. For the hard copy 54 packed in the bag, a receiving method such as mailing, home delivery, or delivery at a store is specified based on the print receiving instruction data.
Sorted. Then, these are mailed, delivered to home, and delivered to the store in accordance with each sort.

The system controller 52 reads out the image data storage instruction data from the print instruction data, and if the image data storage instruction is issued, the image data is deleted for a predetermined period without erasing the image data. This allows the user to browse and download images from the digital still camera 10 or through personal computer communication or the like. In addition, only print instruction data, and there is no instruction to save image data, at the stage when printing and print verification are completed,
The corresponding image data in the image storage file 46 is deleted.
In the case of image data on which image data medium recording instruction data has been recorded, the image data is written to a large-capacity storage medium such as an MO, CD-ROM, or MD, and then the corresponding image data in the image storage file 46 is stored. to erase.

As shown in FIG. 2, the digital printer 48
Is provided with a printing exposure unit 58 of a scanning exposure system using a laser beam. The printing exposure unit 58 synchronizes with the feeding of the color paper (silver salt color photosensitive material) 60 and
By scanning the printing beam in the width direction of 0, each frame is printed and exposed. In the case of an index image,
A large number of images are reduced and printed in a normal one frame size.

On the back surface of the color paper 60, an identification number and a bar code thereof are printed by the back printing machine 56 at a position corresponding to each frame to be printed. The identification number and the barcode are used for matching the hard copy with the bill. In addition to the printing exposure unit 58 and the scanning exposure method using a laser beam, a surface exposure method or a line exposure method using another CRT or a liquid crystal display panel may be used. After printing, a cut mark is recorded in the margin of each frame by a marker 62 such as a puncher. The color paper 60 that has been printed and exposed is developed by a paper processor 64, as is well known, and cut off for each frame based on a cut mark, and a hard copy 54 is created.

Next, the operation of the printing system configured as described above will be described.

In the imaging section 22 of the still camera body 16,
Image data obtained by subjecting the subject image to photoelectric conversion by the image area sensor is output to the image processing unit 24. As described above, the image processing unit 24 performs A / D conversion after performing γ conversion and well-known image processing, and outputs image data to the memory 26. And memory 2
6, the image data is temporarily stored in one of the frame memories, and the temporarily stored image data is output to the thumbnail image creation unit 28 and the data communication unit 18 The data is output to the data compression unit 34. The image data input to the thumbnail image creation unit 28 is converted to the above-described thumbnail image data by the thumbnail image creation unit 28, that is, the size of the image data is reduced and output to the thumbnail image storage unit 30. Therefore, image data obtained by being imaged by the imaging unit 22 is converted into thumbnail image data and stored in the thumbnail image storage unit 30 as data having a small data capacity.

Here, when the display of the captured image is instructed by a key input of the key input unit 40 or the like, the thumbnail image data stored in the thumbnail image storage unit 30 is output to the liquid crystal display unit 32, and the captured image is displayed. Is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 32. That is, the photographed image can be confirmed as a thumbnail image.

On the other hand, the image data output from the memory 26 to the data compression unit 34 is
A compression process such as compression is performed and output to the mobile phone unit 38.

In the identification / instruction data generating unit 36,
The above-described identification number data and print instruction data corresponding to various print instructions input by the key input unit 40 are created and stored in the memory of the identification / instruction data generation unit 36.

The print instruction data stored in the memory of the identification / instruction data generating section 36 is output to the mobile phone section 38, and the mobile phone section 38 transfers the data to the printing equipment 12 in correspondence with the image data. . As described above, the data transfer is automatically performed after the image capturing, image processing, image recording, data compression, and the like of the image data obtained by the image capturing are completed. Data is transferred.

The image data obtained by shooting is converted into image data having a relatively low resolution or data having a small image size, that is, image data having a small data capacity by the thumbnail image creating section 28 as described above. Since the image is stored in the thumbnail image storage unit 30, a relatively low-capacity memory can be used as the memory of the thumbnail image storage unit 30.

Further, when the photographed image is to be confirmed later, by inputting an instruction for confirming the photographed image to the key input section 40, the thumbnail images can be sequentially displayed on the liquid crystal display section 32. In addition, it is possible to easily confirm and search a captured image. Therefore, printing equipment 1
When an additional print instruction or the like is issued to the user 2, image confirmation can be performed by searching for a thumbnail image, so that it is possible to prevent an erroneous additional print instruction.

Here, since the data capacity of the thumbnail image is small, the image displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 32 is an image having a low image quality or an image having a small image size. Sufficient image quality. However, when a photographed image with higher image quality is required, as described above, the image data corresponding to the image confirmed by the thumbnail image is transmitted to the print facility 12 by the mobile phone line 14, the data communication unit 18, and the data reception unit. By making a request through the communication means including the unit 44, image data with even better image quality can be obtained. Then, after confirming the image based on the acquired image data, it is possible to instruct the printing equipment 12 to perform additional printing or the like.

As described above, in the print system according to the present embodiment, when performing additional printing or the like, the thumbnail images stored in the thumbnail image storage unit 30 are not browsed through the lab shop. Can be performed by confirming the above, the time for instructing the additional print or the like can be shortened.

The erasing timing of the thumbnail images is determined by instructing the digital still camera 10 to perform batch printing to the printing facility 12 of the laboratory, and then the printing facility 1.
2 may be deleted when a print acceptance signal is received from the digital camera 10, or a print instruction may be issued from the digital still camera 10 to the print equipment 12 by designating a frame.
May be deleted when a print acceptance signal is received from the digital still camera 1, or when the memory capacity of the thumbnail image storage unit 30 is exhausted, an alarm or the like urging deletion is notified to the user of the digital still camera 10.
When the user inputs an erasure instruction to the key input unit 40, the thumbnail image for which the erasure instruction has been issued may be erased, or may be erased by the user of the digital still camera 10. Alternatively, the storage period of the thumbnail image may be specified in advance, and the thumbnail image whose storage period has elapsed may be automatically deleted.

In the above-described embodiment, the thumbnail image is stored in the digital still camera 10. The thumbnail image creation unit 28 and the thumbnail image storage unit 30 are provided on the printing equipment 12 side of the lab shop, and the thumbnail image is stored. Is obtained by data transfer from the printing equipment 12, since the data volume is smaller than that of the image data itself, the data transfer time and the like can be shortened. Also, as described above, the printing equipment 1
When the thumbnail image creation unit 28 and the thumbnail image storage unit 30 are provided on the second side, the thumbnail image storage unit on the printing equipment 12 side can be switched to a memory for storing images and a memory for transferring images. You may.
Further, at this time, the transfer state of the transfer memory (for example, what percentage
May be provided. In such a case, the status of the transfer memory can be grasped, so that when data is automatically transferred after shooting, the remaining Can be predicted. Also, when transferring large-volume images,
By being able to grasp the progress of the transfer, it is possible to predict the time at which the next photographing is possible.

In the above embodiment, a digital printer 48 of a photographic print system is used. In addition, a color printer of a heat development transfer system, a color ink jet printer, a color thermal printer, a color laser printer, or the like is used. Is also good.

In the above embodiment, the image data is digitally printed. In addition, character data and document data input by a word processor or the like are sent to a lab store through a personal computer communication or the like, and the image data sent earlier is sent. Data and these characters,
The image may be combined with the document data and printed. Also, instead of combining text and document data with images,
A hard copy 5 is printed using a back printing machine 56 as shown in FIG.
4 may be printed on the back surface.

Further, high resolution image data may be obtained by using a pixel shifting technique. For example, the image area sensor of the imaging unit is moved in a range narrower than one pixel by a piezoelectric element or the like on the image forming screen and sequentially imaged, and image data having a resolution higher than the number of pixels of the image area sensor is simulated. obtain. In this case, the data representing the pixel shift position (x, y coordinates) and the corresponding image data are transferred to the laboratory. Then, instead of encoding the image data alone, the difference between the images is encoded using the fact that the correlation between the sequentially shifted pixel-shifted images is high (since the same scene is captured). By using the method of encoding the difference data between images as described above, the amount of storage and transfer data can be reduced. At the lab store,
Using the pixel shift position data and the corresponding image data, high resolution image data is created and printed by pixel interpolation processing. At this time, if necessary, image processing such as smoothing and enhancement may be added.

The present invention may be applied to a digital camera capable of shooting a moving image. Nearly the same scene appears before and after the frame image at a certain time. When the screen is completely still, by taking the average value of a plurality of frame images during the still time, noise generated between the imaging input system and the recorder can be effectively removed. When the screen is moving (in the case of moving the screen within a predetermined allowable range), the moving image has the effect of the pixel shift. Therefore, pseudo high-resolution image data is obtained by using the image data of the frames before and after the print target frame in the pixel interpolation process.
In this case, it is necessary to obtain the direction and the moving distance on the pixel, and these directions and the moving distance can be obtained by locally performing matching between frames. For example, when an image n frames after the image at a certain time moves by (dx, dy) pixels on the pixels of the image area sensor, (dx / n, dy) per frame
/ N). Note that d
x indicates the amount of movement in the x-axis direction, and dy indicates the amount of movement in the y-axis direction. Then, these pixel shift amounts (dx / n, d
A frame image at a timing when y / n) takes a value other than an integer is used as pixel interpolation data.

Further, in the above embodiment, the data communication unit 18 is provided integrally with the digital still camera 10, but these may be separable. Also,
A call function may be added to the data communication unit 18 so that the camera and the mobile phone can be shared. In the above embodiment, the digital still camera 10 and the printing equipment 12 may be directly connected wirelessly.

In the above-described embodiment, the camera inputs the print instruction data and transfers it together with the image data. However, the print instruction data is registered in the lab in advance, and only when there is a change, This may be communicated later by telephone or the like. Further, the photographing condition data may be transferred together with the image data. The photographing condition data includes a photographing date and time, a photographing lens focal length, a subject distance, a type of a subject irradiation light source, weather, a temperature, and the like. By using these at the time of printing, print quality can be improved. Further, in the case of instructing additional printing, since the image data has already been transferred, the identification data and the number of prints may be transferred to the printing equipment 12 by the digital still camera 10, so that additional printing can be performed easily. Can be.

The above embodiment is a printing system between an individual user and a lab shop.
The present invention may be applied as a print system between a photographer in a newspaper company or a television station and the head office. In this case, an immediate image can be easily obtained.

In the above embodiment, the still camera body 16
Although the digital still camera 10 is configured by the data communication unit 18 and the data communication unit 18, an IC card may be configured to be mountable, and image data may be stored therein. In this case, the print service may be received by submitting the IC card to the laboratory as needed.
Further, at a lab store near the destination, only image data may be passed from a camera or an IC card, and a print may be received or delivered from a lab store near home. In addition,
In this case, data such as a customer identification number and, if necessary, an address and a name are stored in the IC card.

In the above-described embodiment, the identification data and the instruction data are transferred together with the image data for each photographing. In addition to this, as shown in FIGS. The camera 66 may be provided with a data memory 68 for storing a plurality of frames of compressed image data, and the data may be transferred after photographing a plurality of frames. In this case, the data memory 68 is provided between the data compression unit 34 and the mobile phone unit 38. Then, the image data and the print instruction data are stored in the data memory 68 in association with each other. In FIG. 3, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Further, in the digital still camera 66 in FIG.
An image based on the image data stored in the liquid crystal display unit 3
2 can be displayed.

In the data memory 68, in addition to the image data and the print instruction data, unique data such as identification number data for identifying the camera user and transmission destination telephone number data are also stored. Note that these unique data may be registered in the destination memory of the mobile phone unit 38 instead of being stored in the data memory 68, or may be stored in a built-in memory of the system controller 20.

In the case of transmitting a plurality of frames all at once, as shown in FIG. 4, an image is taken by the still camera body 16 (step 100), and a relatively low-resolution image data is obtained from the image data obtained by the image taking. The thumbnail image data is created, and the thumbnail image data is stored in the thumbnail image storage unit 30 (step 102). Then, input of the print instruction data is performed via the key input unit 40 (step 104). The image data obtained by the imaging is JPEG-compressed by the data compression unit 34 and stored in the data memory 68. When the number of frames reaches a certain number, data transfer is performed (steps 106 to 112). In the case of collectively transferring data as described above, in addition to the image data, frame identification data, and print instruction data of the series of frames, user identification number data is also transferred. The transfer of the user identification number is performed by transmitting identification data, image data, and print instruction data for each photographing frame as in the above-described embodiment. May be transferred together. It is convenient to transfer each data for each photographed frame because it is not necessary to transfer the photographed frames that have been transferred again when the communication line is interrupted due to radio wave interference during the transfer. In this case, when each frame is normally received, the printing equipment transmits a normal reception signal after completion of reception of each frame (step 114). Thus, when the line is interrupted during the communication, it is only necessary to transmit again from the interrupted frame, and the communication cost can be reduced. In FIG. 4, when data is not normally received, data is transferred until the data is received. However, a limit may be imposed on the number of retransmissions of this data. In this case, an alarm is generated when a certain number of times is exceeded. Further, the user identification number data and the frame number identification data may be used in combination. In this case, the user and the photographing frame can be identified by one identification number.

As shown in FIG. 4, the transfer of the image data of a plurality of frames recorded in the data memory 68 is performed after a certain number of frames have been photographed.
8, the data may be transferred. Alternatively, the stored image data, identification data, and print instruction data may be transferred after a certain period of time has elapsed from the end of shooting. In addition, set to manual transfer mode,
Data may be manually transferred as appropriate. Further, when data is transferred, if the digital still camera is located in a communication-unavailable area such as a building or an underground mall, the apparatus is automatically set to a data transfer standby mode. In the data transfer standby mode, data transfer is performed when the digital still camera enters the communicable area.

When the transmission of the image data is completed and a normal reception signal is received from the receiving side, the transmission record is stored in the data memory 6.
8, the transmitted image data and its print instruction data are automatically deleted from the data memory 68 (step 116), but the thumbnail image data is stored in the thumbnail image storage unit 30. Therefore, the confirmation of the photographed image can be performed by displaying the thumbnail image on the liquid crystal display unit 32.
The transmission record data includes transmission date and time data, transmission frame identification number data, print reception designation data, and the like. Note that, besides automatic deletion, these data may be deleted manually. Alternatively, instead of sending a normal reception signal from the receiving source, a reception ID number may be issued at the receiving source lab shop and transmitted from the receiving source to the digital still camera side when the reception is normal. In this case, the digital still camera stores the received reception ID number in the data memory 68.

The transfer destination of the image data is, in addition to the transfer to the one registered in the camera in advance, a list of the image data transfer destinations stored in the data memory 68 of the camera, and the transfer destination is selected from these. Data transfer may be performed. In this case, a reception facility 70 as shown in FIG. 5 is provided for each region. The reception equipment 70 is generally installed in a lab store,
This may be provided alone.

The receiving equipment 70 includes a data receiving section 72, a temporary storage file 74, a receiving destination data decoding section 76, a retransmission data generation section 78, a retransmission file creation section 80, a data transmission section 82, and a system controller 84. ing. The data receiving unit 72 and the data transmitting unit 82 include modems 85 and 86 and data converting units 88 and 90. The transmission data from the digital still camera 66 received by the data receiving unit 72 is stored in a temporary storage file 74.
Is sent to the reception destination data decryption unit 76. The reception destination data decoding unit 76 decodes the reception destination from the transmission data, and sends the reception destination data and the identification data to the retransmission data generation unit 78. The retransmission data generation unit 78 creates retransmission data with the reception destination as a transmission destination based on the reception destination data, and sends this and the identification data to the retransmission file generation unit 80. The retransmission file creating unit 80 reads out the image data of the identification data and the print instruction data, and creates a retransmission file having the print destination as the transmission destination. The created retransmission file is sent by the data transmission unit 82 via the dedicated line 92 to the printing equipment 12 of the intended print reception destination. Therefore, since the print is performed at the print reception destination, the user can receive the print in the shortest delivery time. The transmission of the retransmission file may be performed using a dedicated line 92 or a network such as the Internet using a general public line.

The transfer of the image data may be automatically selected based on the current position information of the digital still camera. Entering the camera's current location information is easy,
This is performed by the photographer himself inputting a place name or the like by using the key input unit 40. In this case, an association between the place name and the image data transfer destination is stored in the memory of the digital still camera, and the image data transfer destination is specified from the place name. In addition, Global Positioning System (GP
In the case of the camera having S), the current position is specified based on the GPS signal, and the transfer destination is specified based on the current position. In addition to this, the mobile phone unit 3 from which reception base station information can be obtained.
In the case of 8, the location of the receiving base station may be approximately set as the current location. By selecting a data transfer destination closest to the current position of the camera in this manner, communication costs when using a mobile phone line can be minimized. By inputting the current location information, a list of a plurality of image data transfer destinations close to the current position is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 32.
, And a desired data transfer destination can be selected from these.

In the print instruction information of the print instruction information, in addition to a predetermined place, for example, a home or the nearest DP reception shop, the camera may change the print reception destination each time. In this case, the place name and the print reception destination data may be stored in advance in the camera in association with each other, and may be automatically selected based on the current position information of the camera. This print reception destination is also the same as the image data transfer destination,
Based on the place name data, GPS signal and receiving base station information,
For example, the nearest receiving location may be specified. In this case, by inputting the desired print reception time as the print reception instruction data, it is possible to receive the print at the place specified at the time specified at the destination such as a trip. Further, by inputting the current position information, a list of a plurality of print destinations near the current position may be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 32, and a desired destination may be selected from these.

In the above embodiment, the photographed image data is compressed and transferred.
Although the transfer efficiency is reduced, the image data may be transferred as it is without data compression. Alternatively, data transfer may be performed after confirming captured image data on a liquid crystal display unit 32 such as a display of a digital still camera.

[0065]

As described above, according to the present invention, image data obtained by photographing is transferred to the printing means to create a print, and thumbnail image data having a small data volume is created from the image data to produce a digital image. Storing them in the camera has the effect of providing a digital camera and a print system that can easily view a captured image without going through a lab store.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a digital printer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a digital still camera according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in a digital still camera according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a network of a reception facility and a printing facility for relaying image data of a digital still camera according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 digital still camera 12 printing equipment 18 data communication unit 22 imaging unit 28 thumbnail image creation unit 30 thumbnail image storage unit 36 identification / instruction data generation unit 38 mobile phone unit 44 data reception unit 46 image storage file 48 digital printer 52 system controller

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 3/00 651 G06F 3/00 651A 5C052 3/12 3/12 W 5C053 N 5C062 G06T 3/40 G06T 3 / 40 A 5C076 H04N 1/00 106 H04N 1/00 106B 5E501 1/393 1/393 5/225 5/225 F 5/91 101: 00 5/765 5/91 J // H04N 101: 00 HLF Terms (Reference) 2H054 AA01 2H106 BA55 BH00 5B021 AA30 BB01 PP08 5B057 BA02 BA23 CA01 CA08 CA12 CA16 CB01 CB08 CB12 CB16 CC01 CD05 CH14 CH20 5C022 AA13 AB68 AC00 AC01 AC69 5C052 AA11 AC08 FA02 FA07 FA07 FA07 FA07 FA07 LA11 LA14 5C062 AA01 AA37 AB13 AB17 AB22 AB25 AB38 AB42 AC02 AC04 AC05 AC25 AC27 AC34 AE03 AE08 AE16 AF14 5C076 AA22 BA02 BA03 BA05 BA06 CB01 5E501 AA02 AA06 AA14 AA30 AB03 AB16 AC15 AC16 AC33 BA05 CA03 CA04 CB02 CC03 EA02 FA14 FA15 FB04

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image capturing means for capturing an image of a subject, a thumbnail image generating means for generating thumbnail image data having a smaller data size than the image data based on image data obtained by capturing the image by the image capturing means, A thumbnail image storage unit that stores image data, an identification data creating unit that creates identification data for identifying an image corresponding to the image data, a data communication unit that transfers the image data and the identification data, Digital camera with. 2. The digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying an image. 3. The digital camera according to claim 1 or 2, receiving means for receiving the image data and the identification data transferred from the digital camera, and the image data based on the identification data. An image database for managing the data by using the image data read from the image database; a printing unit for creating a print from the image data read from the image database; and a print control unit for controlling the printing unit with print instruction data that specifies operating conditions of the printing unit. Printing system with,.