JP2002252800A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To relieve the burden of a user by acquiring information to update the camera from a server by using a mobile phone and a digital camera to update data of the camera, thereby exchanging the simplicity of use of the camera. SOLUTION: The digital camera has a communication means that obtains information from a server, a memory means that stores information and an information update means so as to update data of the camera. The communication means may be deigned in a separate unit or integrated with the camera.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera capable of photographing and displaying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of photographing an image, the systems considered so far include, for example, JP-A-10-3365.
There is a digital camera disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 74 (1994).

In such a photographing apparatus, basically, an image is obtained from an image pickup optical system of a camera, and the obtained image is provided to a photographer by an image display device of the system, and the image is stored in an IC card or a built-in memory. The basic function is to accumulate data. However, since the capacity of the image memory is limited, the number of images to be taken is also limited. In view of this point, the apparatus has a function of transferring the taken image to an external database server. Such a video system includes a unit that records an image of a subject obtained from an image sensor as digital image data in a memory, a transmission unit that transmits image data to an external storage device, and a display unit that displays an image. .

According to such a configuration, a digital camera can record an image once in a memory, and then transfer the image to an external storage device via a transmission unit as needed. It can be deleted according to the necessity of the user, the free space in the memory can be increased, and a large number of images can be taken. On the other hand, when the image can be received from the external storage device, the image can be displayed on the display means.

[0005] Next, a description will be given of a conventional technique regarding portable equipment. As shown in JP-A-10-271562,
A system in which game software is manually used via mobile communication means is disclosed. This is an earlier version of a conventional portable device that has a built-in game ROM and uses fixed game software. Or package (RO
(M card), by downloading various game software via a mobile communication terminal for only those using various game software, it is possible to use various types of game software without carrying the game software at all times. You can enjoy the software.

[0006]

However, in such a video system, even if it is possible to use communication means for the storage capacity of an image or obtain so-called application software such as game software by the communication means,
For example, it was not possible to use the communication means to upgrade the system itself or fix a bug. This is the means by which such information can be obtained first. Also, there is no way to obtain such information and then use it to make your own changes.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A camera according to the present invention has communication means and photographing means, and has means for changing a control program of the photographing means via the communication means.

Further, the camera of the present invention has a communication unit and a photographing unit integrally, and is provided with a unit capable of changing a control program of the photographing unit via the communication unit.

(Operation) According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, it is possible to update a camera from a communication means when updating the camera.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a system schematic diagram of a first embodiment of the camera according to the present invention.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a camera body;
Is a display device.

As shown in FIG. 2, the camera is a camera body 1.
And an imaging optical system having a lens therein.

A liquid crystal display 4 having a display mode for observing an image obtained from the imaging optical system is placed on the camera body. At the time of photographing, the photographer can observe the image photographed by the imaging optical system on the display element 4.

At the time of shooting or during reproduction after shooting, an image can be observed using the liquid crystal display 4 shown in FIG.

This can be observed by sending an image from the recording medium in the camera body 1 to the display element 4.

The display element 4 is formed between the glass substrates in a display pixel portion composed of a liquid crystal layer or the like.

In the following, imaging / monitoring, recording,
The reproduction operation mode will be described. After that, modes such as updating of the control means will be described using communication.

These operation modes are started by an operator turning on a power switch of the camera body to read a program for starting the camera from the rewritable ROM 215 (FIG. 3). The above operation mode is designated by various GUIs or switches at 214. Rewritable ROM2
That is, 15 includes various programs corresponding to each operation mode.

These various camera operations are performed with the involvement of a program.

First, the flow of signals and the flow of processing in the camera at the time of capturing an image will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 20 denotes a CCD, and 24 denotes a CC.
D vertical driver, 21 a CDS / AGC circuit, 22 a clamp circuit, 23 an A / D converter, 25 a timing generator, 26 a color processing circuit, 27 a signal processing circuit, 28 a VRAM, 29 a liquid crystal display A control circuit 4 is a liquid crystal display similar to that of FIG.
Reference numerals 4 and 2004 denote memories. A compression / decompression circuit 207 performs, for example, Motion JPEG compression / decompression. 2
08 is a digital interface, for example, U
SB or IEEE1394. 209 is an interface to a storage medium, 210 is a storage medium.

Here, for example, a flash memory is used. 211 is an MPU, 212 is a work memory, 21
4 is a camera control unit, 215 is a rewritable ROM, 2
Reference numeral 16 denotes an updating circuit.

When an operation such as recording / reproduction of an image by an operator is manually input to the camera control unit 214, a signal corresponding to this input is sent from the camera control unit 214 to the MPU 211, and each unit is controlled by the MPU 211. Here, it is assumed that the video shooting mode is selected.

An image captured by the imaging optical system is a CCD.
An image is formed on 20 imaging elements. The image is photoelectrically converted by the CCD 20, and the image is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 23 via the CDS / AGC circuit 21 and the clamp circuit 22 at the next stage. At this time, the image signal is CCD
Drive processing is performed under the control of the vertical driver 24 and the timing generator 25.

The CCD 20 has both a frame accumulation mode and a field accumulation mode. Here, a case where the mode is switched between when displaying on a display and when recording an image will be described as an example. The through display is for the field accumulation mode.

The images converted into digital signals by the A / D converter 23 are sent to respective color processing circuits 26 by a signal processing circuit 27.

In the color processing circuit 26, the digital signal is subjected to color conversion processing and the like. The color-converted digital signal is stored in the memory 204 via the signal processing circuit 27. At this time, the image from the CCD 20 is stored in the memory 2
04 stored. In the next field, CCD2
Images from 0 are stored in memory 2004. As described above, while the memories 204 and 2004 are switched for each field and used for storing, while the storing is repeated in sequence, the address to be read is not read from the memory not used for storing, for example, 2004. The image is output from the address encoder 1001 (FIG. 7), and the image is read in accordance with the address. Thus, in one field, one memory 204 is used for writing and the other memory 2004 is used for reading,
Reading and writing are repeated alternately. That is, a memory is used as a double buffer. The read image is reduced in the signal processing circuit 27 and transferred to the VRAM 28. The signal processing circuit 27 controls signals in both directions as described above.

At this point, the signal picked up by the CCD is converted into an image as the process memory 204 or 2004, respectively.
, Or in the VRAM 28. In order to generate a video signal on the liquid crystal display 4 in the camera, the contents of the VRAM 28 are used.
The RAM 28 is a display memory and has a capacity of an image to be displayed on the liquid crystal display 4.

The number of pixels of the image held in the process memory 204 or 2004 and the number of pixels of the display image on the liquid crystal display 4 are not always the same, and the signal processing circuit 27 has a function of performing thinning and interpolation. It is.

The image written in the VRAM 28 is displayed on the liquid crystal display 4 via the liquid crystal display control circuit 29 for each scanning line. This allows the observer to observe the image.

Next, recording of an image will be described. As the type of the recording medium, a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like can be used. Here, a flash memory will be described as an example. The interface 209 to the recording medium saves the video signal as a file in an empty area of the recording medium 210 in a digital format, and also registers the video signal in the file management area.

This is started by the photographer manually starting a desired operation on the camera control unit 214 by the photographer. When the MPU 211 identifies the desired photographing, the CCD is changed from the field accumulation mode to the frame accumulation mode. , And are stored in the memories 204 and 2004.
Assuming that the storage 204 has a capacity for one CCD field, a double capacity is required by setting the accumulation mode to a frame. That is, since the capacity for one frame is the capacity for two fields, all the memories 204 and 2004 are used.

The contents held in the VRAM 28 are displayed on the liquid crystal display 4 as it is, and the flow of data from the memory 204 and the like, which had been performed before the recording operation was started, is temporarily stopped, and a still screen is displayed on the display. Is displayed. The contents stored in the memories 204 and 2004 are first sent to the compression circuit 207 via the signal processing circuit 27 to compress the information, and the compressed data is held in the work memory 212.

Here, Motion JPEG is performed as an example of compression. Compressed data (one frame or one
Field data) is held in the work memory 212, and is compressed to, for example, s001. Mjpe
g, s002. Name the file Mjpeg,
First, the first one frame or one field is written as the file. Similarly, frame or field data that flows one after another is written in succession. The written compressed moving image is file-managed.

At this time, identification information is simultaneously recorded in the file management area. Further, a thumbnail image is recorded together with the main image. Here, the thumbnail image refers to the first frame (or field) of the moving image with respect to the tree image, here, a reduced image of the frame of the moving image, and refers to an image having a size of 80 × 60.

This thumbnail image is once reduced to the size of 80 × 60 through the signal processing circuit 27 and then compressed by the compression circuit 207, as in the case of creating a compressed image of the main moving image. The data is sent and compressed, and the compressed data is held in the work memory 212.

Here, as an example of compression, only one frame is compressed.
Motion JPEG will be performed. (This is the same as JPEG.) The compressed data is held in the work memory 212, and for example, ss001. It is assumed that a file name such as “mjeg” is assigned and file management is performed as a thumbnail compressed image.

At this time, identification information for identifying a moving image is also recorded in the file management area. The above is the flow of moving image recording. A camera user can observe a video on a display and perform a recording operation only when desired.
Thereby, the degree of freedom in photographing is large, and the image can be confirmed even when moving with the camera during photographing.

Next, the reproduction of the video recorded on the recording medium 210 will be briefly described. Since images of a plurality of files are recorded on the medium, first, the memory I / F 20
9 checks the management area of the recording medium 210, sends the image file registration data to the MPU 211, and in this case, selects a reproducible image file, arranges the corresponding image file name data into an arbitrary display format, and An image corresponding to a thumbnail image is read from the recording medium 210 and stored in the work memory 212. Since the thumbnail images held in the work memory 212 are JPEG compressed (Motion JPEG of only one frame), 16 thumbnail images are selected and sent as data to the signal processing circuit 27, and the screen is displayed as shown in FIG. indicate.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 100 denotes a thumbnail image.
The operator selects an image file to be reproduced from the displayed thumbnail images, and inputs the image file to the camera control unit 214 manually. The input signal is sent from the camera control unit 214 to the MPU 211, and the moving image data of the selected file is read out from the recording medium 210 via the memory I / F 209 in frame units and transferred to the work memory 212.

Thereafter, the information in the work memory is expanded by one frame via the compression / expansion circuit 207 and sent to the process memory 204. After that, as described above, VRAM2
The size is converted to 8 and displayed on the display 4 as an image. The next frame is processed in the same manner, and a moving image is reproduced. As described above, the captured video can be easily reproduced, and by arranging a microphone (not shown) together with each imaging optical system, it is possible to effectively obtain video and audio. This concludes the description of photographing, recording, and reproduction of images with the camera body.

Next, the communication means 2 in FIG. 2 will be described. This will be described with reference to FIG. 4, reference numeral 400 denotes a speaker, 401 denotes a microphone, 402 denotes a control unit of communication means, 403 denotes a dial operation unit, 404 denotes a detection / demodulation unit,
05 is a modulator, 406 is a receiver, 407 is a transmitter, 40
8 is an antenna, and 409 is a digital interface. The sender selects a communication destination from the dial operation unit 403,
Via the control unit 402 of the communication means, it is connected to the communication destination,
The voice of the sender is transmitted from the microphone 401 to the other party via the control unit 402, the transmission unit 407, and the antenna 408.

On the other hand, at the time of reception, sound is heard from the antenna 408 via the receiving unit 406, the detection / demodulation unit 404, and the control unit 402 via the speaker 400. This is general voice transmission and reception.

Next, the process of transmitting, for example, camera update information from the communication means 2 to the camera body 1 via the digital interface 409 will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 1
Is an example in which a part of FIG. 3 and a part of FIG. 4 are connected. After connecting the cable 3, first, in the camera 1, the operator selects the update mode via the camera control unit 214. As a result, the camera uses the communication means 2 to perform communication, and the digital interface 208 in the camera body is used.
Specifies to receive more information. As a result, the update circuit 216 operates, and the HPU shown in FIG.
A signal 1002 is issued and the MPU 211 stops operating, during which time the update circuit has control.

Next, the operator specifies in the communication means 2 that communication with the camera is to be performed from the control unit of the communication means.
An external server is accessed from the dial operation unit as in a normal telephone operation.

The server accessed in this way has transmitted the data information to the communication means 2 and the receiving unit 406
The signal is received by the detection and demodulation unit 404 via the
2 to the digital interface 409.

The cable 3 connected to the digital interface 409 is connected to the digital interface 208 in the camera body 1, and data communication is performed during this time. The communication is controlled under the control of the update circuit 216. In the camera body 1, the received data is temporarily stored in the work memory 212.

The update information once received is written into the rewritable ROM 215 by the update circuit 216. As a result, the program for specifying the operation of the camera is changed.

After all information has been sent to the ROM 215, the update circuit 216 relinquishes control, that is, the HAL
The T signal 1002 is cancelled, and control becomes the basis of the MPU.

According to the rewritten program, for example, it is possible to change the size of the thumbnail image 80 × 60, or to perform a camera operation such as an auto focus function, an exposure control, and a shutter speed control program. Can be changed. In addition, it is possible to improve an operation failure due to a bug in the program.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, the camera 1 and the communication means 2 have been described as being separate from each other, but they may be provided as a single device. This will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 does not include the digital interfaces 208 and 409 in FIG. 1 because the camera T and the communication means 2 are integrated, and the update circuit 217
And the control unit 410 are different from those in FIG.

In FIG. 1, the digital interface is assumed to be a general-purpose digital interface. On the other hand, in the integrated type, the information from the communication path, that is, from the control unit 410 to the memory 212 is directly transmitted according to the instruction of the update circuit 217. Can write. This also has the advantage of reducing the overhead of the interface. Other operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

(Third Embodiment) In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the operation of the updating circuit causes the communication unit to communicate with the updating unit.
Although it is described that the camera itself is updated, the content to be updated is temporarily stored in the memory 212 as a file from the communication unit 2 by the operation of the MPU 211 instead of the updating circuit. After that, it is conceivable that the program for executing the update works to update using the file contents.

In each of the embodiments described above, the communication means such as a mobile phone has been described as an example. However, different communication means can be applied.

The update information held in the camera is one location, but may be any location. Further, which partial information is updated is not limited to the present embodiment.

Furthermore, although it has been described that the function of the camera itself is updated this time, it is needless to say that a new function can be added in this embodiment.

[0059]

As described above, the first and second embodiments according to the present application are described below.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, in a camera that captures a video and observes an image on a display, information is manually output from an external server by connecting to a communication unit.
It is possible to update a control program or the like of the camera itself.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a camera and a communication unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of a camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a communication unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a thumbnail image display diagram.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a signal processing circuit showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera main body 2 Communication means 4 Displayable liquid crystal display element 20 CCD 24 CCD driver 21 CDS / AGC circuit 22 Clamp circuit 23 A / D converter 24 CCD vertical driver 25 Timing generator 26 Color processing circuit 27 Signal processing circuit 28 VRAM 29 Liquid crystal display control circuit 30 Image captured by CCD 100 Thumbnail image 204, 2004 Memory 207 Compression / decompression circuit 208 Digital interface 209 Interface to storage medium, 210 Storage medium 211 MPU 212 Work memory 213 Matching circuit 214 Camera control unit 215 Rewritable ROM 216, 217 Update circuit 400 Speaker 401 Microphone 402, 410 Control unit 403 Dial operation unit 404 Detection demodulation 405 modulating section 406 receiving section 407 transmitting unit 408 antenna 409 digital interface

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A camera comprising communication means and photographing means, and means for enabling a control program of the photographing means to be changed or added via the communication means. 2. A camera having a communication unit and a photographing unit integrally, and having a unit capable of changing or adding a control program of the photographing unit via the communication unit.