JP2003259207A - System and device for reproducing image - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve various problems about the correction of image data. <P>SOLUTION: An image reproduction system comprises an image reproducing device provided with a photographing means for photographing an object to generate image data and a server connected to the image reproducing device. A transmitting means transmits to the server characteristic data of a display device for displaying the image data. A receiving means receives, from the server, correction data corresponding to the characteristic data of the display device. A correcting means corrects the image data on the basis of the received correction data. In this way, the image reproduction system can simply and easily cope even with the appearance of a display device with a new characteristic. If the image reproducing device is provided with a determining means for determining a characteristic of the image data generated by the photographing means and a correcting means for correcting the image data on the basis of characteristic data of the image data and the characteristic data of the display device for displaying the image data, the contrast, γ value or the like of an image displayed on the display device is adjusted to be one intended by a photographer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reproducing apparatus having a photographing means for photographing a subject and generating image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it is assumed that image data taken by a digital camera will be displayed on a monitor of a personal computer (PC) for viewing, and characteristics (resolution, color tone, aspect ratio, etc.) matched to the PC monitor. It was common to record in the memory in the digital camera.
Therefore, when the image data recorded in this way is displayed on a monitor (for example, a television monitor) other than the PC monitor, there is a problem that an image intended by the photographer cannot be obtained.

As a means for solving this problem, NTS
A digital camera capable of outputting C (National Television Standards Committee) is typical. According to such a digital camera, it is possible to correct the characteristics of the captured image data according to the characteristics of the television monitor.

However, there are display systems such as a cathode ray tube system, a liquid crystal system, and a plasma system in the display device, and even if the display device adopts the same display system, its characteristics often vary slightly depending on the manufacturer. . Therefore, recently, it has been proposed to store various correction data in a digital camera in advance. According to such a digital camera, the image data can be corrected based on the correction data according to the characteristics of the target display device.

[0005]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, when a display device having new characteristics appears, it is not possible to easily cope with it. That is, when a display device having a new characteristic appears, in order to add the characteristic data of this display device,
The correction data managed by each digital camera had to be updated.

Further, in the above prior art, since the image data is corrected based on the characteristics of the display device,
The resolution, color tone, aspect ratio, etc. of the image displayed on the display device are intended by the photographer. However, since the characteristics of the image data itself such as contrast and γ value were not taken into consideration, the contrast and γ value of the image displayed on the display device may not be what the photographer intended.

It is an object of the present invention to solve any of the above problems associated with image data correction.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image reproducing apparatus equipped with a photographing means for photographing a subject and generating image data, and this image reproducing apparatus and a network via a network. The following means are provided on the premise that the system is an image reproduction system including a connected server.

That is, the transmitting means transmits the characteristic data of the display device for displaying the image data to the server. Further, the receiving means receives the correction data corresponding to the characteristic data of the display device from the server. further,
The correction means corrects the image data based on the received correction data.

As described above, according to the configuration in which the correction data is managed in the server connected to the image reproducing device through the network, even if a display device having new characteristics appears, it is possible to easily cope with it. You can

Further, the present invention provides the following means in an image reproducing apparatus having a photographing means for photographing a subject and generating image data.

That is, the judging means judges the characteristic of the image data generated by the photographing means. Further, the correction means corrects the image data based on the characteristic data of the image data and the characteristic data of the display device that displays the image data.

As described above, if the correction processing is performed based not only on the characteristics of the display device but also on the characteristics of the image data, not only the resolution, hue and aspect ratio of the image displayed on the display device but also the contrast and The γ value and the like are also intended by the photographer.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG.
[Fig. 3] is a schematic functional block diagram of an image reproducing system to which the present invention is applied, and its configuration will be described below together with the operation.
It should be noted that the image reproducing device 10 described below is premised on a device such as a digital camera or a digital video camera capable of photographing a subject and generating image data.

First, the user of the image reproducing apparatus 10 displays the photographed image before the photographing is started.
Is designated by using the operating means 16 such as a button or a dial. The mode of designating the characteristics of the display device 30 is not particularly limited. However, the display device 30 has various display systems such as a cathode ray tube system, a liquid crystal system, and a plasma system. Even if the display device 30 adopts the same display system, its characteristics often vary slightly depending on the manufacturer. Therefore, it is appropriate to specify the manufacturer and model number here.

In order to specify the manufacturer and the model number, a manufacturer list screen is displayed on the display means (not shown) of the image reproducing apparatus 10. When a specific manufacturer is selected by this, then the manufacturer is selected. Display device 3 released by
The model number list screen of 0 may be displayed. By doing so, the user of the image reproducing apparatus 10 can easily specify the maker and model number of the display device 30 for displaying the captured image data by using the operation means 16.

Of course, the display device 30 having new characteristics
When appears, it is necessary to be able to specify the model number of this display device 30. For that purpose, the maker and the model number may be directly input using the operation means 16, or the data of the model number list screen may be acquired from a server described later and displayed on the display means. May be.

When the characteristic of the display device 30 is designated, the characteristic data is passed from the operating means 16 of the image reproducing apparatus 10 to the transmitting means 17, and then by the transmitting means 17.
It is transmitted to the server 20 connected to the image reproducing apparatus 10 via the network. After being received by the receiving means 21 of the server 20, the receiving means 21
Is passed to the correction data management means 24.

The server 20 mentioned here can be configured by a general computer system. Further, the network connecting the image reproducing device 10 and the server 20 may be any means as long as they can communicate with each other, and the type thereof is not limited.

The correction data management means 24 of the server 20 is
After the image correction method suitable for the characteristic data is specified (described later), the correction data stored in association with the image correction method is read from the correction table 23. The correction data referred to here is a parameter used in the correction process described later, and specifically means a value indicating the resolution, hue, aspect ratio, etc. of the image data subjected to this correction process.

Although the image correction method and the correction data are associated with each other and are stored in the correction table 23 in advance, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, if the image correction method can be specified, the correction data when this image correction method is adopted can be calculated by performing a predetermined calculation. Therefore,
When the configuration for performing such calculation is adopted, the correction table 23 may be omitted.

The correction data read from the correction table 23 is transmitted to the image reproducing apparatus 10 by the transmission means 22 of the server 20. Then, after being received by the receiving means 18 of the image reproducing apparatus 10, the receiving means 18 passes it to the correcting means 12.

Here, when the user of the image reproducing apparatus 10 photographs a subject, the lens and CCD (Charge Coupled D
Image data is generated by the photographing means 11 provided with a photoelectric conversion element such as an evice). The image data generated in this way is passed to the correction means 12, is subjected to correction processing by the correction means 12, and is then recorded in the recording means 13 such as a memory card. Of course, in this correction process, the correction data transmitted from the server 20 is used as a parameter.

Then, when the user instructs the reproduction of the image data using the operation means 16, the image data is
It is read from the recording means 13 by the reproducing means 14.
Then, by the output means 15, a video code or a USB
It is output to the display device 30 via a transmission path such as a (Universal Serial Bus) cable, and is displayed on the display device 32 via the input device 31 of the display device 30. The image data displayed in this way has been subjected to correction processing in advance on the image reproducing device 10 side based on the characteristics of the display device 30, so there is no problem that the image data is not intended by the photographer.

As described above, according to the present invention, the correction data is managed in the server 20 connected to the image reproducing apparatus 10 via the network. Therefore, when the display apparatus 30 having new characteristics appears. Even in this case, it can be easily handled. That is, according to the conventional technique, when the display device 30 having new characteristics appears, the correction data managed by each image reproducing device 10 must be updated, but according to the present invention, the server 2
Only the correction data managed by 0 need be updated.

In the field of digital cameras, when the photographed image data is recorded in the recording means of the digital camera or displayed on the display device 30, the image data is mosaic, sepia tone, and soft focus. It is expected that special effects such as The software that realizes such a special effect adding function is installed in the server 20.
It is also effective to store it in the memory and store it in the memory so that it can be downloaded from the image reproducing apparatus 10 as needed.

In the above description, the image reproducing device 10 is used.
The image correction method is specified on the server 20 side based on the characteristic data specified by the user, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the display device 3
If a table in which the characteristic of 0 is associated with the image correction method suitable for it is stored in the image reproducing apparatus 10, the image reproducing apparatus 10 is referred to by referring to the corresponding table based on the characteristic data specified by the user. It is also possible for the side to specify the image correction method.

In the above description, the image data is output from the image reproducing device 10 to the display device 30 via the transmission line, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, when a removable recording medium such as a memory card is adopted as the recording means 13 of the image reproducing device 10, the same effect can be obtained even if the memory card is read by the display device 30 side.

Further, although not particularly mentioned in the above description, after the correction data is received from the server 20, the correction data may be set to be defaulted to be used in the subsequent correction processing. By doing so, the step of receiving the correction data from the server 20 can be omitted from the next time, which is convenient for the user who has decided which display device 30 to use.

The correction data set as default in this way is not limited to the correction data last received from the server 20. For example, if the correction data received from the server 20 is stored on the image reproducing device 10 side, from among the correction data thus stored,
The user can select the correction data to be set as default. In this case, if the number of times the correction data is used is recorded on the image reproducing device 10 side, the correction data with the highest frequency of use can be automatically detected and defaulted.

Further, in the above description, the characteristics of the display device 30 are designated before the start of photographing.
The device that displays the captured image may not be determined at the time of starting the capturing. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the correction means 12 is provided between the reproduction means 14 and the output means 15.
You may make it intervene. With this configuration, the correction process is performed when the image data is output from the image reproduction device 10 to the display device 30. Therefore, the characteristics of the display device 30 may be designated when the image data is output from the image reproduction device 10 to the display device 30.

Further, as shown in FIG.
The storage device 33 stores the characteristic data of the display device 30 and the acquisition device 19 of the image reproducing device 10 acquires the characteristic data stored in the storage device 33 via a transmission path such as a USB cable. You may do it. In this way, the characteristic data acquired by the acquisition unit 19 can be transmitted to the server 20 by the transmission unit 17, and thus the user specifies the characteristic of the display device 30 using the operation unit 16 as described above. There is no need.

Further, although not shown, when the image reproducing device 10 has a plurality of image output terminals each having a different shape depending on the type of the display device 30 to be connected, which terminal is connected to the display device 30. The image reproduction device 10 may be provided with a detection unit that detects whether or not the image reproduction device 10 is present. By doing so, the image reproducing device 10 is provided with the display device 3.
When 0 is connected, the characteristic data of the display device 30 can be specified on the image reproducing device 10 side. (Embodiment 2) By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, since the image data is corrected based on the characteristics of the display device 30, the resolution of the image displayed on the display device 30
The hue and aspect ratio will be as intended by the photographer. However, since no consideration was given to the characteristics of the image data itself, such as contrast and γ value,
The contrast and γ value of the image displayed on the display device 30 may not be what the photographer intended.

The present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. Here, a configuration similar to the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described as an example, but the technical idea adopted in the present embodiment is the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. It is also possible to apply to the configuration described without being shown.

First, when the user of the image reproducing device 10 specifies the characteristics of the display device 30 by the same procedure as in the first embodiment and then starts photographing, the image data generated by the photographing means 11 is corrected by the correcting means 12. And the determination means 41. As a result, the determination unit 41 determines the characteristic (contrast, γ value, etc.) of the image data, and passes the characteristic data of the image data to the transmission unit 17 as the determination result.

As a result, not only the specific data of the display device 30 but also the characteristic data of the image data are input to the correction data management means 24 of the server 20. Therefore,
The correction data management means 24 specifies the image correction method suitable for both characteristic data, and then corrects the correction data stored in association with the image correction method in the correction table 23.
Read from.

Since the subsequent operation is the same as that of the first embodiment, it will be briefly described.

That is, the correction data read from the correction table 23 is transmitted to the image reproducing apparatus 10 by the transmitting means 22 of the server 20 and passed to the correcting means 12 via the receiving means 18 of the image reproducing apparatus 10. . As a result, as described above, the correction means 1 is performed by the photographing means 11.
The image data input to 2 is subjected to correction processing by the correction means 12, and then recorded in the recording means 13.
Here, the user operates the operation unit 16 to reproduce the image data.
, The image data recorded in the recording means 13 is read by the reproducing means 14, is output to the display device 30 by the output means 15, and is displayed via the input means 31 of the display device 30. 32 is displayed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the correction process is performed based on not only the characteristics of the display device 30 but also the characteristics of the image data, the resolution of the image displayed on the display device 30 is reduced. The not only the hue / aspect ratio but also the contrast, the γ value, etc. are those intended by the photographer (as shown in FIG. 5, the server 20 does not have the correction data management means 24 and the correction table 23, Needless to say, the same effect can be obtained even if the reproducing apparatus 10 is provided with the correction data managing means 42 and the correction table 43).

However, in reality, the contrast and γ value may be slightly different from those intended by the photographer due to the influence of noise or the like. Therefore, if reference image data (first image data) such as a color bar is recorded in the recording means 13 in advance and correction data is obtained by the procedure described below using this reference image data, The correction process can be optimized (in FIG. 6, the flow of image data related to the optimization process is indicated by a solid line, and the other data flow is indicated by a dotted line. The same applies to FIG. 7).

That is, when the user of the image reproducing apparatus 10 performs a predetermined operation using the operation means 16, the storage means 33.
The reference image data recorded in (1) is read by the reproducing means 14, is output to the display device 30 by the output means 15, and is displayed on the display means 32 via the input means 31 of the display device 30 (FIG. 6). , Step S1 → S2 →
S3 → S4). When the reference image data is displayed in this way, the photographing means 11 of the image reproduction device 10 generates the display image data (second image data) by photographing this display image, and the correction means 12 and the determination means. 41 (step S5 → S6 in FIG. 6).

As a result, the judging means 41 judges the characteristics of the display image data such as the contrast and γ value, and judges whether the characteristics of the display image data match the characteristics of the reference image data. The term “match” as used herein may be a match within a predetermined allowable range, and may not be a perfect match.
When it is determined that the characteristic of the display image data does not match the characteristic of the reference image data, the characteristic data of the display image data is passed to the transmitting means 17 (FIG. 6, step S7).
→ S8 → S9).

As a result, not only the specific data of the display device 30 but also the characteristic data of the display image data are input to the correction data managing means 24 of the server 20 (FIG. 6, steps S0 → S8 → S9, Steps S7 → S8 →
S9). Therefore, the correction data management unit 24 specifies an image correction method in which the characteristics of the display image data approach the characteristics of the reference image data, and then, from the correction table 23, the correction data stored in association with the image correction method is stored. Read out (FIG. 6, step S10).

The correction data thus read out from the correction table 23 is transmitted to the image reproducing apparatus 10 by the transmitting means 22 of the server 20 and passed to the correcting means 12 via the receiving means 18 of the image reproducing apparatus 10. (Fig. 6,
Steps S11 → S12 → S13). As a result, the image data input from the photographing means 11 to the correction means 12 in step S6 of FIG. 6 is corrected by the correction means 12 and then output to the display device 30 by the output means 15, and this display device is displayed. It is displayed on the display means 32 via the input means 31 of 30 (FIG. 6, step S14 → S1).
5 → S16).

The above operation is repeated until the determination means 41 determines that the characteristics of the display image data match the characteristics of the reference image data. Then, the correction data obtained by this optimization processing is set as default and used in the subsequent correction processing.

By doing so, the characteristics of the image displayed on the display device 30 can be made to substantially match the characteristics of the reference image data. Therefore, after that, the image data generated by the photographing means 11 can be corrected using the optimum correction data.

However, in order to perform the above-described optimization processing, the image reproducing apparatus 10 and the server 20 frequently communicate with each other. To solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 7, the correction data management means 42 and the correction table 43 may be provided on the image reproducing device 10 side. By doing so, the characteristic data of the display image data is passed from the determination unit 41 of the image reproduction apparatus 10 to the correction data management unit 42 in the apparatus, and thus the image reproduction apparatus 1
0 and the server 20 do not need to communicate with each other.

In the above-described optimization process, the display image data is fed back (correction process is performed on the display image data), but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, as shown in FIG.
Even if the reference image data is fed back (correction processing is performed on the reference image data), the same effect as described above can be obtained.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, the correction data is managed by the server connected to the image reproducing device through the network, and therefore, when a display device having new characteristics appears. Even if there is, it can be handled easily.

Further, in the present invention, since the correction processing is performed based on not only the characteristics of the display device but also the characteristics of the image data, the resolution of the image displayed on the display device
Not only the hue and aspect ratio, but also the contrast and γ value become what the photographer intends.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram of an image reproduction system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram of another image reproduction system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic functional block diagram of another image reproduction system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic functional block diagram of an image reproduction system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic functional block diagram of an image reproducing device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic functional block diagram of another image reproducing system according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic functional block diagram of another image reproducing device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic functional block diagram of another image reproducing system according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Image reproduction device 11 Photography means 12 Correction means 13 Recording means 14 Playback means 15 Output means 16 Operation means 17 Sending means (on the image reproducing device side) 18 Receiving means (on image reproducing device side) 19 Acquisition means 20 servers 21 Receiving means (server side) 22 Transmission means (server side) 23 Correction table (server side) 24 Correction data management means (server side) 30 Input means 32 display means 41 Judgment means 42 Correction data management means (on the image reproducing device side) 43 Correction table (image playback device side)

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tomohiko Kitamura             1006 Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric             Sangyo Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5C022 AA13 AB19 AC31 AC69 AC80

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An image reproducing system comprising an image reproducing device having a photographing means for photographing a subject to generate image data, and a server connected to the image reproducing device via a network, wherein Transmission means for transmitting the characteristic data of the display device for displaying data to the server, receiving means for receiving correction data corresponding to the characteristic data of the display device from the server, and an image based on the received correction data. An image reproducing system comprising: the image reproducing device; and a correcting unit for correcting data. 2. The image reproducing system according to claim 1, further comprising recording means for recording the image data generated by said photographing means in said image reproducing device. 3. The image reproducing system according to claim 2, wherein the correction means corrects the image data generated by the photographing means and records the corrected image data in the recording means. 4. The image reproduction system according to claim 2, wherein the correction means corrects the image data recorded in the recording means. 5. The image reproducing system according to claim 1, wherein the image reproducing device further includes an operating unit for designating characteristic data of the display device. 6. The image reproduction system according to claim 1, further comprising an acquisition unit for acquiring characteristic data of the display device from the display device. 7. An image reproducing apparatus provided with a photographing means for photographing a subject to generate image data, the judging means judging the characteristic of the image data generated by the photographing means, and the characteristic data of the image data. An image reproducing device comprising: a correction unit that corrects the image data based on the characteristic data of the display device that displays the image data. 8. The display device displays first image data, and the photographing means photographs the first image data displayed on the display device to generate second image data. The determining means determines whether or not the characteristic of the first image data and the characteristic of the second image data match, and the correcting means determines that the characteristic of the second image data is the first characteristic. The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second image data is corrected so as to approach the characteristics of the image data. 9. The display device displays first image data, and the photographing means photographs the first image data displayed on the display device to generate second image data. The determining means determines whether or not the characteristic of the first image data and the characteristic of the second image data match, and the correcting means determines that the characteristic of the second image data is the first characteristic. The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the first image data is corrected so as to approach the characteristics of the image data.