JP2004062274A - Direct print system and electronic camera compatible with direct print - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent printing in a layout not intended by a user in a direct print system. <P>SOLUTION: In the direct print system in which a photographed digital image is directly transmitted from an electronic camera to a printer, and the image is printed by the printer, the printer determines the print layout based on information on the image transmitted from the electronic camera and transmits the parameters corresponding to the print layout to the electronic camera in advance of print of the image. The electronic camera creates a print layout pattern based on the transmitted parameters and displays the pattern. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a direct print system in which an image is directly transmitted from an electronic camera to a printer and the image is printed by the printer, and an electronic camera compatible with the direct print.
[0002]
[Prior art]
When a user prints an image captured by an electronic camera, the image recorded on a memory card or the like is generally transferred to a personal computer (hereinafter, a personal computer) and then output to a printer. In order to transfer images to a personal computer, it is necessary to use a memory card reader or connect a cable between the camera and the personal computer. The advantage of using a personal computer is that the print layout and the like can be finely specified by processing image data and using driver software suitable for the printer. However, on the other hand, there is a disadvantage that the personal computer must be started up one by one, and a troublesome operation is required, and it takes time to output to the printer. For this reason, users who do not particularly process images in printing (most are) or users who are not familiar with personal computers are better to output images directly from the camera to a printer without using a personal computer and print it. No hassle. Therefore, for example, there is an attempt to equip a printer with a memory card slot, or to connect a camera and the printer with a cable so that printing can be performed directly. Such a method of directly connecting a camera and a printer to perform printing is called direct printing.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The problem with the direct printing as described above is the print layout. Since the driver software suitable for the printer to be used is not installed in the camera, the camera cannot instruct the print layout in detail. The information sent from the camera to the printer includes only image data to be printed, some print designation items, and a print start instruction. For this reason, it can be said that the print layout is determined only by the specifications of the printer, and the print layout often differs depending on the printer used. In addition, since it is not clear until the user actually prints what kind of layout will be obtained, for example, there are many cases where there is more margin than necessary, a part of the image is missing, or a print result that is not intended by the user.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a direct print system and a direct print compatible electronic camera that prevent printing in a layout not intended by the user.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention according to claims 1 to 6 is applied to a direct print system in which a photographed digital image is directly transmitted from an electronic camera to a printer, and the image is printed by the printer.
The printer determines a print layout based on the information about the image transmitted from the electronic camera, transmits parameters corresponding to the print layout to the electronic camera prior to printing the image, and the electronic camera receives the transmitted image. A print layout diagram is created based on the parameters, and the print layout diagram is displayed.
In particular, the invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the parameters transmitted from the printer include a relative vertical and horizontal size of the image, a relative vertical and horizontal size of the print paper with respect to the vertical and horizontal size of the image, and a vertical and horizontal size indicating the position of the image with respect to the print paper. And coordinates.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, all the parameters are represented by integer values.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the print layout diagram includes an image frame created based on the parameter, and a print paper frame created based on the parameter. This is displayed in a positional relationship based on the information.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the print layout diagram includes a reduced image and a print paper frame created based on the parameter, and the reduced image and the print paper frame are displayed in a positional relationship based on the parameter. It was made.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the electronic camera changes parameters in response to a layout change operation and sends the changed parameters back to the printer, and the printer resets the print layout based on the parameters sent back from the camera.
A direct print-compatible electronic camera according to claim 7, wherein the electronic camera directly transmits a photographed digital image to a printer, and receives a parameter relating to a print layout transmitted from the printer, and the received parameter. And a display means for displaying the created print layout diagram.
Particularly, in the invention of claim 8, the print layout diagram includes an image frame and a print paper frame as in claim 4.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, similarly to the fifth aspect, the print layout diagram includes a reduced image and a print paper frame.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a changing means for changing a parameter in response to a layout changing operation, and the changed parameter is sent back to the printer.
[0006]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 shows a direct print system in which an electronic camera 10 and a printer 20 are connected by a cable, and FIGS. 2 and 3 show the configuration of a control system of the camera 10 and the printer 20, respectively.
[0007]
The electronic camera 10 has a solid-state imaging device (CCD in FIG. 2) 12 that receives a transmitted light beam of a photographing lens 11 and performs photoelectric conversion. The CCD 12 is driven and controlled via a timing generator 13. The photoelectric conversion output of the CCD 12 is converted into a digital image signal by an A / D converter 14, image-processed by an image processing circuit 15, and further compressed by a compression / expansion circuit 16 into a predetermined format (for example, JPEG format). Are recorded on the memory card MC via the card interface 17.
[0008]
The SDRAM 18 is a memory for temporarily storing image signals and data for each processing, the ROM 19 is a memory for storing processing programs and constant values in advance, and the MPU (hereinafter referred to as camera MPU) 1A is stored in the ROM 19. Is a microprocessor that controls each circuit in accordance with a programmed program. Various operation buttons 1B are connected as inputs to the camera MPU 1A. These operation buttons 1B include buttons used in a direct print process to be described later, in addition to buttons operated during photographing and image viewing.
[0009]
1D is an LCD panel (liquid crystal monitor), for example, provided on the back of the camera. The LCD panel 1D is driven via the video display circuit 1C according to an instruction from the camera MPU 1A, and displays an image stored in the SDRAM 18 or an image recorded on the memory card MC on a screen (FIG. 4). In this embodiment, a print layout diagram in direct printing can be displayed on the LCD panel 1D as described later.
[0010]
The camera 10 also has a printer interface 1E, and can be directly connected to the printer 20 via a printer cable 30. When a printer that supports direct printing is connected, images can be sent directly from the camera 10 to the printer 20 for printing.
[0011]
On the other hand, the printer 20 has a camera connection interface 21 as shown in FIG. 3, and the image data sent from the camera 10 is temporarily stored in the SDRAM 22. The stored image data is decompressed by the decompression circuit 23 and stored again, and sent to the printer engine 24 at the time of printing. The printer engine 24 prints the transmitted image on printer paper. The MPU (hereinafter, printer MPU) 25 is a microprocessor that controls the above circuits according to a program stored in the ROM 26 and performs color processing and the like on image data to be printed.
In a printer having no expansion circuit 23, the printer MPU 25 expands an image.
[0012]
The direct print function is implemented in the camera 10 or the printer 20 as so-called firmware. In the following description, a method in which the camera 10 controls the printer 20 by firmware installed in the camera 10 will be described.
[0013]
FIG. 5 shows an example of a direct print process performed by the camera MPU 1A and the printer MPU 25.
When the camera 10 and the printer 20 are connected, the camera MPU 1A requests information on the connected printer 20 from the connected printer 20 (step S101). Upon receiving the request, the printer MPU 25 transmits its own printer information (steps S201, S202). The camera MPU 1A receives the printer information and checks whether or not the printer 20 supports direct printing (steps S102 and S103), and if not, displays a message indicating that "direct printing is not possible". The process ends (step S116).
[0014]
Note that a printer that does not support direct printing may not respond at all to an information request from the camera 10 depending on the model. This is due to the difference in communication protocol between direct printing and PC printing (printing using a personal computer). In this case, information cannot be received in step S102, and the camera MPU 1A determines that direct printing is not possible, as described above, and displays that fact (step S116).
[0015]
On the other hand, if the printer supports direct printing, the camera MPU 1A displays a menu and waits for a user to select an image (step S104). The user selects an image to be printed on the camera side, and when selected, the camera MPU 1A sends the selected image data to the printer 20 (step S105). Here, the image data includes data forming the image itself and accompanying information such as resolution of the image and photographing data.
[0016]
Upon receiving the image, the printer MPU 25 determines a default print layout from information on the size of the received image, the size of the currently set print sheet, and dot density (dots / inch), and the print layout information Is sent back to the camera 10 (steps S204 to S206). At this time, information indicating "image reception completed" is also sent. Alternatively, the print layout information may be sent back only when the camera 10 is instructed to send the print layout information by simply returning the message of the completion of the reception at this time.
[0017]
The print layout information sent by the printer 20 is, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, the relative horizontal and vertical sizes a and b of the image calculated based on the image data sent from the camera 10 and the dot density (dots / inch) of the printer 20, and the relative size of the print paper to the image. Six parameters of the horizontal and vertical sizes A and B and the relative image position coordinates X and Y based on the position of the print paper (or based on the position of the image) are print layout information. Since the sizes may be relative, they can all be represented by integer values, and the amount of information can be greatly reduced as compared with the case of representing absolute values. Therefore, information can be transmitted and received quickly, and the user does not feel stress.
[0018]
Here, the camera 10 transmits the image data in step S105. At this point, the camera 10 transmits only the information (accompanying information) necessary for determining the print layout, and the data including the image itself is transmitted to the user later. May be sent when the user performs a print execution operation.
[0019]
The camera MPU 1A receives the print layout information (six parameters a, b, A, B, X, and Y) sent from the printer 20, and creates a print layout diagram based on these (steps S107 and S108). ). Then, the created print layout diagram is displayed on the LCD panel 1D (step S109).
[0020]
As the simplest print layout diagram, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, an image frame 52 may be simply arranged in a paper frame 51. The paper frame 51 is a rectangular frame representing the outline of the print paper, and has an aspect ratio of B: A. The image frame 52 is a rectangular frame representing the outline of the image, and its aspect ratio is b: a. The relative vertical and horizontal dimensional ratios of the paper frame 51 and the image frame 52 are B: b and A: a, respectively, and the position of the image frame 52 in the paper frame 51 corresponds to X and Y.
[0021]
Instead of a simple image frame, a thumbnail image 53 may be displayed in a paper frame 51 as shown in FIG. That is, the camera 20 generally creates and saves a small thumbnail image separately from the main image in the post-shooting process, and may create a print layout diagram using the thumbnail image. Also in this case, the aspect ratio of the paper frame 51 and the thumbnail image 53 is in accordance with the above six parameters. Even if the vertical and horizontal sizes of the thumbnail image 53 are constant, various paper sizes (for example, A4 and B5) can be handled by changing the size of the paper frame. If the camera 10 includes a general-purpose resolution conversion circuit, the size of the thumbnail image 53 can be appropriately adjusted and displayed, and various layout displays can be performed on an LCD panel having a limited size. The image for print layout display may be created by converting the resolution of the main image without using the thumbnail image. According to this, there is an advantage that the image quality can be selected although it takes time.
[0022]
The user can instantly grasp the proportion and position of the image in the print paper by looking at the print layout diagram displayed as described above. If an image such as a thumbnail image is displayed instead of the image frame, confirmation can be performed in a display state closer to the print result. Here, the image does not always fit in the paper, and one or both of the vertical and horizontal directions of the image may not fit in the paper. In this case, only a part of the screen is trimmed and printed, but if an image is displayed on the layout diagram, it is instantly known which part of the image is to be printed, and whether or not printing is possible Can be determined without hesitation. The user performs a print execution operation if there is no problem with the displayed layout, and performs a print cancel operation if he does not like it.
[0023]
When the user performs an operation (step S110), the camera MPU 1A sends a signal corresponding to the operation, that is, a print execution signal or a cancel signal to the printer 20 (step S111). The process returns from step S112 to step S104 and waits for the next image selection. The printer MPU 25 receives a print execution signal or a cancel signal from the camera 10 (step S208). If the print execution signal is received, the printer MPU 25 instructs printing (step S209 → step S210). (Step S211). Upon receiving the print completion signal, the camera MPU 1A displays a print completion message on the LCD panel 1D (steps S114 and S115).
[0024]
On the other hand, if the input signal from the camera 10 is a cancel signal, the printer MPU 25 returns from step S209 to step S203 and waits without instructing printing. As described above, if the user determines that he does not want to print by looking at the print layout diagram, a cancel signal is sent from the camera 10 to the printer 20 by performing a print cancel operation, and the printer 20 does not perform printing. . Therefore, undesired printing in a layout not intended by the user can be prevented, and waste of paper and ink can be prevented.
Note that the processing procedure in FIG. 5 is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this example.
[0025]
In the above embodiment, the camera MPU 1A and the printer interface 1E constitute a communication unit, the camera MPU 1A constitutes a layout diagram creating unit and a changing unit, and the video display circuit 1C and the LCD panel 1D constitute a display unit.
[0026]
The camera according to the above-described embodiment can check the print layout but cannot change the print layout. Therefore, an example in which a pudding layout changing function is added to the camera will be described below.
[0027]
First, let us consider a case where a printer capable of changing the above-described parameters X and Y is used. If the user does not like the position of the image while looking at the print layout diagram displayed on the camera, the user performs an operation of changing X and Y. For example, using a four-way button provided on the camera, the image frame or the thumbnail image in the layout diagram is moved vertically and horizontally relative to the paper frame, and is moved to an intended position, and then a predetermined operation is performed. The camera MPU obtains X and Y after the movement, and transmits the result to the printer. The printer MPU changes the print layout based on the transmission data, and then performs printing. As a result, an image can be printed at an arbitrary position in the sheet according to the user's intention.
[0028]
The direction (rotation angle) of the image may be changed. This also changes the rotation angle and the rotation direction of the image in the layout diagram using the four-direction buttons and the like, and when a predetermined operation is performed, the camera MPU transmits the change data to the printer. The printer MPU determines the orientation of the image based on the transmission data, and then prints. This is effective, for example, when it is desired to arrange a vertically long image horizontally without changing the direction of the paper (to rotate the image by 90 degrees). Changing the print direction by 90 degrees can be easily realized only by changing the scan direction of the image data stored in the memory at the time of printing. Similarly, the aspect ratio may be changed without changing the aspect ratio of the image.
[0029]
In the above-described embodiment, the print layout information does not include a parameter relating to the print direction (vertical direction or horizontal direction). However, the print direction parameter is usually unnecessary. That is, if the direction of the image in the print layout diagram is determined in advance, and the length and width of the paper frame are determined based on the orientation, the print direction can be easily determined from the size of the paper frame. There is no need to recognize. However, in the case of a sheet having a unique vertical and horizontal direction such as a postcard, for example, a parameter regarding the print direction is required in addition to the above six information. The camera determines the print direction from the parameters and determines the aspect ratio of the paper frame in the print layout diagram.
[0030]
In the above, the method in which the camera controls the printer by the firmware mounted on the camera has been described. However, the above-described function can also be realized by the method in which the printer controls the camera. However, also in this case, the creation of the print layout diagram needs to be performed on the camera side. This is because the layout diagram created on the printer side may not be compatible with the display mode of the camera. That is, it is necessary to create a layout diagram in which the device on the display side provides the display.
Communication means between the camera and the printer is not particularly limited, and may be wired as in the embodiment or wireless communication. Further, there are various types of printing methods of the printer, but the types are not limited.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, since an electronic camera can create and display a print layout diagram based on information from a printer, a print layout can be easily confirmed in advance in direct printing, and printing with an undesired layout can be easily performed. Can be avoided. Further, since the printer that creates the print layout diagram is not a printer but a camera that displays the layout diagram, no inconvenience occurs on the display.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a direct print system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the electronic camera.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control system of the printer.
FIG. 4 is a view showing an LCD panel provided in the electronic camera.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of direct printing.
FIG. 6 is a view for explaining print layout information (parameters).
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example in which a print layout diagram using an image frame 52 is displayed on an LCD panel.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which a print layout diagram using thumbnail images 53 is displayed on an LCD panel.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Camera 1A Camera MPU
1D LCD panel (LCD monitor)
1E Printer connection interface 20 Printer 21 Camera connection interface 25 Printer MPU
51 paper frame 52 image frame 53 thumbnail image

Claims (10)

A direct print system for transmitting a photographed digital image directly from an electronic camera to a printer, and printing the image on the printer,
The printer determines a print layout based on information related to an image transmitted from the electronic camera, and transmits a parameter corresponding to the print layout to the electronic camera prior to printing the image,
A direct print system, wherein the electronic camera creates a print layout diagram based on the transmitted parameters and displays the print layout diagram. The parameters transmitted from the printer include a relative vertical and horizontal size of the image, a relative vertical and horizontal size of the print paper with respect to the vertical and horizontal size of the image, and vertical and horizontal coordinates indicating a position of the image with respect to the print paper. The direct printing system according to claim 1, wherein: The direct printing system according to claim 2, wherein the parameters are all represented by integer values. The print layout diagram includes an image frame created based on the parameter, and a print paper frame created based on the parameter, and the image frame and the print paper frame have a positional relationship based on the parameter. The direct print system according to claim 2, wherein the direct print system is displayed. The print layout diagram includes a reduced image and a print paper frame created based on the parameter, and the reduced image and the print paper frame are displayed in a positional relationship based on the parameter. The direct print system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein The electronic camera changes the parameter according to a layout change operation and sends it back to the printer,
The direct print system according to claim 1, wherein the printer resets a print layout based on parameters returned from a camera. Communication means for directly transmitting the photographed digital image to the printer and receiving parameters relating to the print layout sent from the printer,
Layout diagram creating means for creating a print layout diagram based on the received parameters,
Display means for displaying the created print layout diagram. A direct print-compatible electronic camera, comprising: The print layout diagram includes an image frame created based on the parameter, and a print paper frame created based on the parameter, and the image frame and the print paper frame have a positional relationship based on the parameter. 8. The electronic camera according to claim 7, wherein the electronic camera is displayed. The print layout diagram includes a reduced image and a print paper frame created based on the parameter, and the reduced image and the print paper frame are displayed in a positional relationship based on the parameter. The direct print-compatible electronic camera according to claim 7. 10. The direct print apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a change unit that changes the parameter in response to a layout change operation, wherein the communication unit sends the changed parameter back to the printer. Compatible electronic camera.

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