JP2003264779A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record a photographed image together with a character corresponding to a place at all times even when photographing is performed at the place for which character data are not registered beforehand in an arrangement enabling the recording of a photo taken together with the character corresponding to the place. <P>SOLUTION: A digital camera comprises: a character conversion part for holding the correspondence of position information and the memory address of the character data corresponding to it; a comparison decision part for comparing the position information obtained in a GPS part with the position information stored in the character conversion part; and a communication part for communication information with the outside. On the basis of the decision result of the comparison decision part, in the case that the character data corresponding to the position information acquired in the GPS part are not present in a memory, the communication part is automatically activated and new character data corresponding to the position information are automatically received and acquired. <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 a digital camera, and more particularly to a digital camera capable of acquiring position information of a photographing point by utilizing GPS (Global Positioning System).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art GPS is a large number of mobile satellites (GPS satellites).
It is a positioning system capable of measuring the three-dimensional position (latitude, longitude, altitude) of a receiving point at an arbitrary position on the ground by receiving radio waves from. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a digital camera system that uses GPS to embed position information in a header portion of a file and display the position information on an OSD (On Screen Display).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 6-6750 and 9-3
22109 and JP-A-9-98323,
Based on the position information received from the GPS, position-related information such as a place name, an event name, a map, and character data stored in advance in the memory in association with the position information,
A technique is shown in which captured images are recorded at the same time.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-72348, the position information obtained by the camera by GPS is transmitted from the information providing system to the information providing system such as a server via a computer network so that the position information is related to the position information. There is disclosed a technique of receiving the position-related information and recording the position-related information and the captured image at the same time.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-286674 discloses a technique for determining a character and a parameter of the character from position information and image data.

[0006]

However, the above-mentioned JP-A-6-6750, JP-A-9-322109,
In the technique described in JP-A-9-98323,
There is no means for adding / updating the contents of the memory that stores the position information and the position-related information in association with each other, and there is a problem in that the position-related information cannot be obtained when shooting is performed at a position other than the position previously stored in the memory. .

Further, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-72348, since there is no memory itself for storing position information and position-related information in association with each other, it is necessary to communicate with the server each time a picture is taken. There is a problem that it takes a very long time to shoot with position-related information.

Further, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-286674, image data, position information data, and parameter data are simply recorded in association with each other, and at the time of reproduction, the image data, position information data, Since only the character determined from the parameter data is combined and displayed, there is a problem that it is not possible to record a photograph in which the image data and the character are taken together.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art as described above, and an object of the present invention is to solve these problems of the prior art.
It is to provide a digital camera with a built-in PS function.

[0010]

A digital camera according to the present invention includes a camera processing unit having a function of capturing an image,
A GPS unit that receives radio waves from PS satellites to obtain position information; a memory that stores at least character data;
A character conversion unit that holds a correspondence relationship between position information and a memory address of character data corresponding to the position information, and a comparison determination unit that compares the position information obtained by the GPS unit with the position information stored in the character conversion unit. It has a communication unit that performs information communication with the outside and a main processing unit that controls each unit, and is configured to be able to record an image captured during image recording and character data corresponding to position information together on a recording medium. , Based on the determination result of the comparison determination unit,
When the character data corresponding to the position information acquired by the GPS unit is not in the memory, the communication unit is automatically activated to automatically receive / acquire new character data according to the position information. , Composed.

Further, the user is allowed to select whether or not the new character data received / acquired is stored in the memory.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a GPS according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a digital camera with a built-in function. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a camera processing unit that includes an image sensor, an image processing circuit, and the like, and has a function of capturing moving images and still images. Reference numeral 2 denotes a receiving unit that receives radio waves from GPS satellites and position information. Equipped with a GPS calculation unit for calculation, G
The GPS unit 3 that acquires position information (latitude, longitude, altitude information) by radio waves from PS satellites corresponds to the position information and the address of the memory storing the character data (character, code, symbol data). The character conversion unit 4 storing the relation, the comparison determination unit 5 for comparing the position information obtained by the GPS unit 2 with the position information stored in the character conversion unit 3, and the reference numeral 5 for the mobile phone base station or the like not shown. A communication unit 6 for performing information communication with the outside capable of performing network communication with an information providing device such as a server on the Internet and receiving character data according to position information, has a memory area for storing character data, A memory also used as an area, 7 is a mode switch for setting a shooting mode, and 8 is received from an external information providing device as described later. The character data, the memory 6
Save switch for deciding whether to save to, 9
Is a storage medium that stores captured image data and data associated therewith, and 10 is a main processing unit that controls each unit of the digital camera through the system bus 11.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a comparison table provided in the character conversion unit 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the character conversion unit 3 includes position information including a latitude range, a longitude range, an altitude range, a display position of character data, and an address of the character data recorded in the memory 6. A comparison table of display positions and memory addresses is provided. This comparison table stores contents corresponding to a plurality of character data stored in advance in the memory 6, and when new character data received via the communication unit 5 is additionally stored in the memory 6, The corresponding table of the character conversion unit 3 also has a format in which corresponding new data can be added.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, when the positional information acquired by the GPS unit 2 is included in the longitude 135 ° 0 to 135 ° 10 minutes east and the latitude 34 ° 40 to 34 ° 50 minutes north, character data If "1" is selected and the position information acquired by the GPS unit 2 is included in 139 degrees 50 minutes to 139 degrees 60 minutes east longitude and 36 degrees 50 minutes to 36 degrees 60 minutes north latitude, the character data "2" is obtained. The position information selected and acquired by the GPS unit 2 is 138 ° 40 minutes to 138 ° 50 minutes east longitude, 35 ° 20 minutes to 35 ° 30 minutes north latitude, and an altitude of 3000 m to 40 minutes.
If it is included in 00m, character data “3” is selected. In this example, blank items of latitude, longitude, and altitude are handled as wild cards.

Next, the operation when the character is actually photographed will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Before shooting, a character shooting mode is set by the mode switch 7 (step S1). Next, when the user presses a shutter switch (not shown) at a place where he / she wants to take a picture (step S2), the main processing section 10 causes G
By activating the PS unit 2, the current position information "A" is obtained (step S3). Next, the position information of each character data stored in the character conversion unit 3 (for example, the position information of "1", "2", "3" if three character data are prepared in advance) is acquired. The position information “A” is compared with the comparison / determination unit 4, and it is determined whether or not the position information “A” is included in the position information prepared in the character conversion unit 3 (step S
4).

As a result of comparing each position information held in the character conversion unit 3 with the position information "A" in the comparison determination unit 4,
When the position information “A” is included in the position information of the character conversion unit 3, the main processing unit 10 reads the corresponding character data from the address of the character data shown in the character conversion unit 3 on the memory 6. (Step S5). At the same time, the main processing unit 10 activates the camera processing unit 1 to temporarily record the captured image in the memory 6 (step S6). Next, the character data is overwritten on a part of the photographed image so that it can be displayed at the display position indicated by the character conversion unit 3 (step S7). next,
The main processing unit 10 records an image in which the character data (for example, a place name, the name of a building, etc.) recorded in the memory 6 is overwritten on the recording medium 9 (step S8), and the photograph with the character data is added. Can be taken.

On the other hand, if the position information “A” is not included in the position information held by the character conversion unit 3 as a result of the judgment by the comparison judgment unit 4, the main processing unit 10 activates the communication unit 5. The character data corresponding to the position information “A” and its related information (latitude, longitude, altitude range,
Display position of character data, character data)
It is received / acquired from an external information providing device via the Internet (step S9). At the same time, the main processing unit 10 activates the camera processing unit 1 to temporarily record the photographed image in the memory 6 (step S10). Next, so that the received character data can be displayed at the received display position,
A part of the captured image is overwritten (step S11).
Next, the main processing unit 10 records an image in which the character data recorded in the memory 6 is overwritten on the recording medium 9 (step S12), so that a photograph with character data can be taken. Next, it is determined whether the user has selected to save the newly acquired character data with the save switch 8 (step S13). When the user selects save, the received character data is additionally recorded in the memory 6, and the character conversion unit 3 stores character related information (latitude, longitude, altitude range, character data display position, character data). Data memory address) is added (step S14). This saves the trouble of receiving the character data again at the next shooting at the same place. If the user does not select to save the newly acquired character data, the received character data and related information will be
It is discarded without being stored in the memory 6 or the character conversion unit 3. This eliminates the problem of squeezing the memory capacity with character data that the user rarely uses or does not like.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to record a photograph taken together with a character corresponding to a location based on the information from the GPS only by capturing an image. In the configuration, even if you shoot in a place where character data is not registered in advance, you can automatically receive the character data, so no matter where you shoot, the image will always be taken together with the character data according to the place. Can be recorded. By utilizing this, and distributing a rare character that appears only in a specific area, a fun digital camera with a built-in GPS function having a collector element can be realized. Further, since the received data can be stored, it is not necessary to receive the character data again when the image is taken in the same place.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera with a built-in GPS function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a comparison table provided in a character conversion unit in the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing flow when a character is photographed in the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Camera processing unit 2 GPS section 3 Character converter 4 Comparison judgment section 5 Communication unit 6 memory 7 Mode switch 8 save switch 9 storage media 10 Main processing unit 11 system bus

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A camera processing unit having a function of capturing an image, and a G for receiving position information by receiving radio waves from GPS satellites.
The PS unit, a memory that stores at least character data, a character conversion unit that holds a correspondence relationship between position information and a memory address of the corresponding character data, position information obtained by the GPS unit, and the character conversion unit. Character data corresponding to the position information and the image captured at the time of image recording, having a comparison / determination unit that compares the stored position information, a communication unit that performs information communication with the outside, and a main processing unit that controls each unit Is a digital camera capable of recording together with a recording medium, and if character data corresponding to the position information acquired by the GPS unit based on the determination result of the comparison determination unit is not in the memory, The digital camera is characterized by automatically activating the communication unit and automatically receiving and acquiring new character data according to the position information. La. 2. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the user can select whether to store new character data received / acquired in the memory.