JP2003087637A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily control photography inhibition and its cancellation from outside. SOLUTION: When a radio transmission and reception device 34 receives photography inhibition information, a system controller 28 confirms the operation mode of a main body. In photographic mode, operation information necessary to enter a photography inhibition state is written to a RAM 32. The system controller 28 refers to a timing signal outputted by a timer 36 and reads in the information stored in the RAM 32 in the timing of the start of photography inhibition to place respective parts in the photography inhibition state. In the photography inhibition state, a camera 10 and a recording device 20 stops operating and an image display part 24 displays a message showing that the main body is in the photography inhibition state on a screen. The system controller 28 cancels the photography inhibition state a certain time after the photography inhibition state is entered or when receiving a photography inhibition cancel signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image pickup apparatus such as a video camera, a user has to start and end a shooting operation by turning on / off the power of the shooting operation unit or connecting / disconnecting a control signal path to the shooting operation unit. It is controlled by doing it manually.

By the way, in theaters, movie theaters and the like, there are places and areas where photographing is prohibited due to security and rights problems, but the downsizing of camera devices has made it possible to easily take hidden pictures. It is like this. Also, in recent years, by combining with a wireless transmission / reception device, it is possible to transmit the captured video to a remote place in a short time, and confidential information is leaked for security reasons, and the permission of the right holder is not obtained. Video information may be distributed.

Even in an area where a picture can be taken, there is a case where the picture itself corresponds to an evasion act, for example, the operation sound and the operation sound of the device make the surroundings uncomfortable. The decision as to whether or not to take a picture in such an area depends on the moral of the device user, and it is difficult to monitor the picture taking action individually.

[0005]

In order to avoid such inconvenience, for example, a system for restricting photographing by transmitting a photographing prohibition signal to an image pickup device equipped with a wireless transmission / reception means is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-152217. It is described in. In this system, a device that sends a shooting prohibition signal in the shooting prohibition region and a wireless transceiver that performs the shooting prohibition operation when the shooting prohibition signal is received are provided to restrict the image acquisition operation in the shooting prohibition region.

However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-15221
In the configuration described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7, since the transition to the photography prohibited state is limited only when the photography prohibited signal is received, when the photography prohibited area is wide and the photography prohibited area is divided by a plurality of shields. In such cases, a plurality of signal transmission devices must be installed in the entire area. Also, in order to continue the shooting prohibited state, it is necessary to receive a shooting prohibition signal at all times for a certain period of time, so if the device user performs an action that interferes with wireless reception within the shooting prohibited area, Reception of shooting prohibition information is hindered, and it becomes difficult to reliably restrict shooting.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus capable of reliably restricting a photographing action in a specific photographing prohibited area.

[0008]

An image pickup apparatus according to the present invention displays wireless communication means for receiving wireless information, information storage means for storing wireless information, image pickup means, and an image picked up by the image pickup means. Depending on the image display means and the operation control information received by the wireless communication means and indicating that photography is prohibited,
And a control unit for prohibiting the photographing operation of the image pickup unit.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an operation flowchart.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a camera including an image pickup optical system and a solid-state image pickup device, 12 is an A / D conversion circuit for converting an analog image signal output from the camera 10 into a digital signal, and 14 is an image pickup image. A camera signal processing circuit, 16 a buffer memory for temporarily storing an image signal, 18 an image compression circuit for compressing a digital signal, 20
Is a recording device for recording an image, 22 is a D / A conversion circuit for converting a digital image signal into an analog signal, 24 is an image display device for displaying a captured image, 26 is a key operation device for instructing the operation of the main body, and 28 is A system control device that controls the operation of each part of the main body, 30 is a ROM, 32 is a RAM, and 34 is a wireless transmission / reception device that transmits / receives data to / from an external device, 3
6 is a timer.

The optical signal captured by the image pickup optical system of the camera 10 is converted into an electric signal by the solid-state image pickup element and applied to the A / D conversion circuit 12 as an analog image signal. A
The / D conversion circuit 12 converts the input analog image signal into a digital signal. The image data output from the A / D conversion circuit 12 is stored in the buffer memory 16 after the image quality is adjusted by the camera signal processing circuit 14. The compression circuit 18 compresses the image data stored in the buffer memory 16 by a high-efficiency coding method, and the output thereof is the recording device 20.
At the same time, it is recorded on a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk and a semiconductor memory. Further, the image data stored in the buffer memory 16 is converted into an analog signal by the D / A conversion circuit 22, and an image is displayed on a screen of an image display device 24 such as a liquid crystal display device (LCD) together with information such as date and shooting time. Is displayed as.

The system control circuit 28 includes a key operation device 2
Each part is controlled based on the signal from 6. The operation data stored in the ROM 30 and the RAM 32 is used for this control. The wireless transmission / reception device 34 communicates with an external device, and the received data is stored in the RAM 32. The system controller 28 sequentially receives the received data in the RAM 32,
By referring to the operation data, the operation contents are determined according to preset operation data stored in the ROM 30, and the operation contents are transmitted to each operation unit. The system control device 28 also determines the operation timing of each unit based on the timing signal from the timer 36.

The operation of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, the presence / absence of wireless information from the external device is confirmed (S1), and when the reception of the photographing prohibition information by the wireless transmission / reception device 34 is confirmed (S2), the system controller 28
Confirms the operation mode of the main body (S3). In the case of the photographing mode (S3), the operation information necessary for shifting to the photographing prohibited state is written in the RAM 32 (S4). The system control device 28 refers to the timing signal output from the timer 36 (S5), reads the information stored in the RAM 32 (S6) at the time when the timing to start the photography prohibition is reached, and sets each unit to the photography prohibition state. To (S
7). At this time, the camera 10 and the recording device 20 stop their operations, and the image display device 24 displays a message indicating that the main body is in the photography prohibited state on the screen (S8).

After shifting to the photographing prohibited state, the system controller 28 refers to the timing signal from the timer 36 (S9), and after a predetermined time has passed (S10), cancels the photographing prohibited state (S11).

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows an operation flowchart thereof.

In FIG. 3, 110 is a camera including an image pickup optical system and a solid-state image pickup device, and 112 is A / A for converting an analog image signal output from the camera 110 into a digital signal.
D conversion circuit, 114 is a camera signal processing circuit for adjusting a captured image, 116 is a buffer memory for temporarily storing an image signal, 118 is an image compression circuit for compressing a digital signal, 120 is a recording device for recording an image, Reference numeral 122 is a D / A conversion circuit that converts a digital image signal into an analog signal, 124 is an image display device that displays a captured image, 126
Is a key operation device for instructing the operation of the main body, 128 is a system control device for controlling the operation of each part of the main body, and 130 is an RO
M and 132 are RAMs, and 134 is a wireless transmission / reception device that transmits / receives data to / from external devices.

In the first embodiment, the wireless reception data is
Although stored in the RAM 132, in the second embodiment, the system control device 128 directly or immediately refers to the reception data of the wireless transmission / reception device 134. The other operations are the same as those in the first embodiment. Only the operation of the part different from that of the first embodiment will be described below.

The system control circuit 128 controls each part based on a signal from the key operation device 126. The operation data stored in the ROM 130 and the RAM 132 is used for this control. The wireless transmission / reception device 34 communicates with an external device and receives the received data from the system control circuit 12.
Supply to 8. The system control device 128 determines operation contents according to the received data and preset operation data stored in the ROM 30, and controls each unit.

The operation of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, the presence / absence of wireless information from an external device is confirmed (S21), and when it is confirmed that the wireless transmission / reception device 134 has received the photographing prohibition information (S22), the system control device 128 confirms the operation mode of the main body ( S23). In the case of the photographing mode (S23), the operation information necessary for shifting to the photographing prohibited state is supplied to the system control device 128, and the system control device 128 causes the ROM 130 and RA.
With reference to the data stored in M132, each part is shifted to the photographing prohibited state based on the photographing prohibition information (S24).
At this time, the camera 110 and the recording device 120 stop their operations, and the image display device 124 displays a message indicating that the main body is in the photography prohibited state on the screen (S2).
5).

After shifting to the photographing prohibited state, the external radio signal waiting state is set (S26). In this state, when a signal for canceling the photographing prohibition state is received (S27), the system control device 128 cancels the photographing prohibition state according to the photographing prohibition canceling signal (S28).

[0022]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, the operation control information received from the outside causes the photographing prohibition state for a certain time, and after a certain time after the photographing prohibition, Alternatively, since the shooting prohibition is released by receiving the shooting prohibition release signal, if the progress contents are predetermined, for example, at a theater or movie theater, it is possible to shoot in advance with the imaging device at the entrance of the venue or immediately after the seating and before the start of the screening. By downloading the prohibition information, it is possible to prohibit shooting at the start and end of the screening without installing a wireless transmission device throughout the venue. When the schedule is uncertain, such as at a concert, the shooting can be prohibited and canceled at the start and end of the performance without transmitting prohibition information at all times during the performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: Camera 12: A / D conversion circuit 14: Camera signal processing circuit 16: Buffer memory 18: Image compression circuit 20: Recording device 22: D / A conversion circuit 24: Image display device 26: Key operation device 28: System control device 30: ROM 32: RAM 34: Wireless transceiver 36: Timer 110: Camera 112: A / D conversion circuit 114: Camera signal processing circuit 116: Buffer memory 118: Image compression circuit 120: Recording device 122: D / A conversion circuit 124: Image display device 126: Key operation device 128: System control device 130: ROM 132: RAM 134: Wireless transceiver 136: timer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A wireless communication means for receiving wireless information, an information storage means for storing wireless information, an imaging means, an image display means for displaying an image picked up by the imaging means, and the wireless communication means for receiving. An image pickup apparatus comprising: a control unit that prohibits the image pickup operation of the image pickup unit according to operation control information indicating that the image pickup is prohibited. 2. The control means comprises a storage means for temporarily storing the operation control information received by the wireless communication means,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after a certain time has elapsed since the operation control information received from the wireless communication means was stored in the storage means, the imaging operation of the imaging means is prohibited according to the operation control information. 3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit cancels the photographing prohibition of the image pickup unit according to operation control information received by the wireless communication unit and indicating that the photographing prohibition is canceled. 4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the photographing prohibited state, information indicating that the photographing prohibited state is displayed on the image display unit. 5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sequentially refers to the operation control information received by the wireless communication unit.