JP2005102309A - Electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable recording of a multiplicity of images, and recording and playing back of images close to animations. <P>SOLUTION: An electronic still camera includes an imaging means 1; an voice information input means 17; an operation means 16; an image compression means 6; a voice compression means 22; a semiconductor memory means 11 for temporarily storing a plurality sets of both compressed image information and compressed voice information; a large-capacity recording medium 14 for recording the compressed image information and the compressed voice information; and a control means 10 for controlling at least compression by the image compression means 6 and the voice compression means 22, write/read of the semiconductor memory means 11 and recording on the recording medium 14. In response to an operation of the operation means 16, the control means 10 compresses the image information for each predetermined period, using the image compression means 6, and also compresses the voice information using the voice compression means 22, in cooperation with the image compression means 6. After storing image data and voice data for a plurality of sheets into the semiconductor memory means 11, the control means 10 records on the recording medium 14 the image data and the voice data of the plurality of sheets being preserved in the semiconductor memory means 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic still camera that records on a recording medium an imaging signal of a still image obtained by imaging with an imaging element.

  Conventionally, an electronic still camera uses a magnetic disk such as a floppy disk having a diameter of about 2 inches, a memory card, or the like as a recording medium, and can record a color still image on the recording medium.

  The number of rotations when recording / reproducing is performed on the floppy disk having a diameter of about 2 inches is 3600 rpm (when it corresponds to the so-called NTSC system of the television broadcasting system), and one field is recorded in one rotation. . When recording is performed in units of frames, 25 screens can be recorded per disc, and when recording is performed in units of fields, 50 screens can be recorded per disc.

  The memory card has a total memory capacity of, for example, several megabytes, and can record, for example, several tens of still images.

JP-A-5-49000

  Incidentally, the above-described conventional electronic still camera has the following problems.

  First, when a floppy disk having a diameter of about 2 inches is used as a recording medium, only about 25 images per frame and 50 images per field can be recorded on the disk as described above.

  In addition, when the above memory card is used, the memory card is still expensive (currently about tens of thousands of yen), and although it is expensive, the capacity that can be stored is about several megabytes. Therefore, only a few tens of still images can be stored, and if a continuous shooting of several frames per second, only a few tens of seconds can be recorded. Therefore, due to these problems, when the memory card is used, it is impossible to use it so that it is easy to shoot and record one after another.

  Furthermore, both the above-described magnetic disk and memory card can be continuously shot, but do not have a function for recording and reproducing an image close to a moving image (hereinafter referred to as a pseudo moving image).

  In addition, the conventional electronic still camera has a long waiting time for recording a photographed image on a magnetic disk or the like, and has a drawback in that photographing must be performed while paying attention to the recording state of the image on the magnetic disk. Similarly, the conventional electronic still camera has a drawback that it is necessary to perform shooting while taking into consideration the capacity of a memory card having a small storage capacity.

  In view of the above, the present invention is capable of recording an extremely large number of images at a low cost, enabling recording and reproduction of images close to moving images, and further, recording status of images and the remaining memory. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic still camera capable of photographing without worrying about capacity.

  The electronic still camera of the present invention has been proposed in order to achieve the above-described object. An image pickup unit that converts an image formed on an image pickup surface into an electric signal to obtain image information, and audio information are provided. Input audio information input means, operation means, image compression means for compressing the image information, audio compression means for compressing the audio information, and temporarily storing a plurality of compressed image information or audio information Semiconductor memory means for recording, a large-capacity recording medium for recording compressed image information or audio information, at least compression of the image compression means or audio compression means, writing / reading of the semiconductor memory means, and recording on the recording medium The control means starts compression by the image compression means in response to an operation of the operation means and increases image information for each predetermined period. In addition to being compressed by the image compression unit, the audio information is controlled to be compressed by the audio compression unit in conjunction with the image compression unit, and the semiconductor memory unit stores the image data and the audio data for a plurality of sheets. Control is performed so as to record the image data and audio data for the plurality of sheets stored in the memory means onto the recording medium.

  Here, a predetermined disk (such as a magneto-optical disk) can be used as the large-capacity recording medium. The plurality of shooting modes include at least a still image mode for recording a still image on the recording medium, a continuous shooting mode for recording a continuous still image on the recording medium, and a continuous still image close to a moving image. Examples include a pseudo moving image mode for recording on a recording medium and an audio recording mode for recording only sound on the recording medium. Further, the electronic still camera of the present invention can be provided with an image expansion means for expanding the compressed image information, a display means for displaying the image information, and the like.

  In the electronic still camera of the present invention, the number of images that can be recorded is increased by compressing the image information from the imaging means by the image compression means and recording it on a recording medium consisting of a large-capacity and inexpensive magneto-optical disk. Therefore, the user can freely and freely record without worrying about the remaining recordable number of records and the cost per image. In the electronic still camera of the present invention, the semiconductor memory means absorbs the difference between the transfer speed of the image information from the imaging means and the recording speed of the recording medium. In addition, continuous shooting images and pseudo moving images can be recorded. Further, in the electronic still camera of the present invention, the control means controls the compression by the image compression means, the writing / reading of the semiconductor memory means, and the recording on the recording medium in accordance with the operation of the operation means, and the image compression means. By controlling to record a plurality of pieces of image information stored in the semiconductor memory means on the recording medium after the compression is completed, it is possible to take a picture without worrying about the image recording state. When recording the pseudo moving image, the image compression unit compresses the image information for each predetermined period according to the operation of the operation unit, and the audio information is compressed by the audio compression unit in conjunction with the image compression unit. It is possible to record a pseudo moving image including audio information linked with continuously shot images.

  In the electronic still camera of the present invention, since the audio information is also compressed, the recording medium can record the audio information compressed together with the image or separately from the image.

  Further, in the electronic still camera of the present invention, since the image expansion means, the sound expansion means, and the display means are provided, the compressed image information and sound information can be expanded, and the expanded image is displayed. Can see.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an electronic still camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic still camera according to the present embodiment includes an image pickup device 1 that converts an image formed on an image pickup surface into an electrical signal to obtain image information, a shooting mode switch 15 and a voice recording switch. 25, etc., an image compression / decompression circuit 6 for compressing / decompressing digitally converted image data, and a high-speed RAM (random access memory) as semiconductor memory means for temporarily storing a plurality of compressed image data Memory) 11, a magneto-optical disk 14 which is a large-capacity recording medium for recording compressed image data, at least compression by the image compression / decompression circuit 6, writing / reading of the RAM 11, and the magneto-optical disk 14 A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10 that controls recording, and the CPU 10 controls the image pressure according to the operation of the operation means. The compression by the decompression circuit 6 is started, and the compression by the image compression / decompression circuit 6 is controlled in accordance with the cancellation of the operation of the operation means, and is stored in the RAM 11 after the compression by the image compression / decompression circuit 6 is completed. Control is performed to record the plurality of pieces of image information on the magneto-optical disk 14.

  Further, the CPU 10 of the electronic still camera of the present embodiment detects the remaining capacity of the RAM 11 after starting the compression by the image compression / decompression circuit 6 in accordance with the operation of the operation means, and the remaining capacity disappears. When this is detected, the compression by the image compression / decompression circuit 6 is terminated, and control is performed so that a plurality of pieces of image information stored in the RAM 11 are recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14.

  In FIG. 1, an image of a subject or the like is formed on an image pickup surface of an image pickup device 1 made of a CCD (charge coupled device) or the like by a lens system (not shown). The image pickup device 1 is driven by a driver 2, and an image pickup output from the image pickup device 1 is converted into digital data by an A / D (analog / digital) converter 3. This digital image data is subjected to signal processing such as so-called knee or gamma processing by the signal processing circuit 4 and then temporarily stored in the buffer memory 5.

  The image data stored in the buffer memory 5 is read out and sent to the compression unit of the image compression / decompression circuit 6. Here, for example, a so-called JPEG (Joint Picture Expert) which is an international standardization working group of a color still image coding system. (Group) method algorithm and the like. Therefore, a specific configuration of the compression unit of the image compression / decompression circuit 6 includes an orthogonal transform circuit that performs discrete cosine transform (DCT) on the image data, and quantization that quantizes DCT coefficients by the discrete cosine transform. And an encoder that performs entropy coding such as Huffman coding on the quantized output. In addition, arithmetic encoding may be used as entropy encoding. The image compression / decompression circuit 6 outputs data in which header information is added to the image data compressed by the compression processing, and this data is stored in a high-speed RAM (Random Access Memory) 11 via the bus. After that, it is recorded on a magneto-optical disk 14 which is a large capacity recording medium via a disk driver 13.

  On the other hand, an audio signal acoustic-electrically converted by the microphone 17 or an audio signal via the audio line input terminal 18 is selected by the switch 19 and sent to the amplifier 20. The audio signal amplified by the amplifier 20 is converted into digital audio data by the A / D converter 21 and sent to the audio compression / decompression circuit 22.

  In the compression unit of the audio compression / decompression circuit 22, the audio signal is time-compressed by, for example, 640 times in the standard mode and 1280 times in the long-time mode. The audio compression / decompression circuit 22 has a memory such as a RAM, and realizes the time compression and the time expansion by changing the writing / reading speed of the memory.

  The audio compression / decompression circuit 22 divides the audio signal or the like into a plurality of frequency bands so that the bandwidth becomes wider as the frequency increases, and the signal in each frequency band is subjected to discrete cosine transform (block) for each predetermined section (block). DCT) processing is performed, and the obtained coefficient data is further divided for each coastal bandwidth considering human auditory characteristics, and compression coding is performed by adaptive bit allocation considering each masking effect for each coastal band. The audio signal may be compressed by a compression encoding method called a so-called ATRAC (Adaptive TRansform Acoustic Coding) method. As a configuration for performing compression encoding in consideration of human auditory characteristics, a filter unit that divides an input audio signal into a rough frequency band in consideration of a coastal band, and an output of the filter unit for each predetermined block unit. An orthogonal transform means for DCT transforming into the signal, an adaptive bit assignment means for obtaining adaptive bit assignment information in consideration of the masking effect in a coastal bandwidth according to human auditory characteristics using the output of the orthogonal transform means, It is possible to use an encoding unit that encodes the output of the orthogonal transform unit based on the bit allocation information obtained by the adaptive bit allocation unit.

  The audio data compressed by the compression unit of the audio compression / decompression circuit 22 as described above is stored in a high-speed RAM (Random Access Memory) 11 via a bus, and then stored in the magneto-optical disk via a disk driver 13. 14 is recorded.

  For this reason, according to the electronic still camera of the present embodiment, both the audio data and the image data are recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14, or only the image data is recorded without recording the audio data. In addition, it is possible to record only audio data without recording image data. Note that whether or not to record audio data is instructed by an audio recording switch 25 described later.

  In this embodiment, the magneto-optical disk 14 is a very inexpensive and large capacity rewritable optical disk (140 megabytes, for example, several thousand yen at present). Specifically, a recording medium called a so-called mini disk (MD: Mini Disc), which is a magneto-optical disk having a diameter of 64 mm, is used. The compressed audio data is recorded and reproduced.

  For this reason, the compressed image data from the image compression / decompression circuit 6 is added with an error correction code by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10 and further subjected to, for example, EFM (8-14 modulation). Recording is performed on the magneto-optical disk 14. When the MD is used for the magneto-optical disk 14, an image (one frame or one field) is recorded on the disk in cluster units. The cluster of MD is 64 kbytes, so one image is recorded with 64 kbytes or 128 kbytes.

  On the other hand, when recording audio data on the magneto-optical disk 14, the CPU 10 adds the error correction code and EFM modulation to the audio data compressed by the audio compression / decompression circuit 22. Will be recorded. For example, about 10 seconds of audio per field is compressed and recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14. The image and sound are recorded on different tracks on the magneto-optical disk 14. For example, audio is recorded on the inner track of the magneto-optical disk 14, and images are recorded on the outer track. In this way, by recording different areas for recording sound and image, it becomes easy to record sound in the case of after-recording to be described later.

  The disk driver 13 according to the present embodiment irradiates the magneto-optical disk 14 with laser light, receives the reflected light from the magneto-optical disk 14 with a photodetector, and based on the detection signal from the photodetector. To control the rotation of the spindle motor and the attitude of the optical pickup. As a result, the disk driver 13 causes the laser beam to follow the track on the magneto-optical disk 14 at a constant speed. Here, the disk driver 13 records data on the magneto-optical disk 14 by simultaneously controlling the optical pickup and the magnetic field generator. In general, the control during recording on the magneto-optical disk includes an optical modulation method in which a DC signal is applied to the magnetic field generator and a modulation signal is applied to the optical pickup, and a modulation signal is applied to the magnetic pickup and applied to the optical pickup. There is a magnetic field modulation method that provides a DC signal (with a constant laser power), but in this embodiment, the magnetic field modulation method is employed.

  More specifically, the disk driver 13 includes a biaxial actuator, a spindle motor, and a thread motor as movable parts, and the biaxial actuator includes a focusing coil that moves the objective lens perpendicular to the magneto-optical disk 14. And a tracking coil that moves in the radial direction of the disk 14. The optical pickup is composed of a laser light source such as a laser diode, an optical component such as a collimator lens, an objective lens, a polarizing beam splitter, and a cylindrical lens, and a photodetector having a light receiving portion having a predetermined pattern. The laser light from the laser diode is used for reading the magnetization direction of the disk 14 and servo for reading, and for raising the temperature of the recording surface of the disk 14 above the Curie point and servo for recording. Is called. The detection signal of the photodetector is used to detect track king and focus servo and the magnetization direction of the signal recorded on the disk 14 (that is, read the recording signal). Further, a magnetic field modulation coil (that is, a magnetic field generator) provided for performing magnetic field modulation has a modulated magnetic field corresponding to the EFM signal on the recording surface of the disk 14 whose temperature has been raised above the Curie point by the laser diode. Used to give.

  By the way, when the MD is used as the magneto-optical disk 14, the data transfer rate in the MD is about 140 kilobytes / second. Therefore, even if one still image is compressed to, for example, 64 kbytes, it takes about 0.5 seconds to record the one image on the disc. Therefore, for example, in the continuous shooting mode to be described later, when trying to record image data directly on the MD, only about two images per second can be recorded. If the compression rate is increased to 32 kbytes per image, for example, it is possible to record about 4 (frames) images per second. However, increasing the compression rate leads to a decrease in image quality. For this reason, in the electronic still camera of the present embodiment, the RAM 11 is provided to cover the slow transfer rate of the MD. In other words, the RAM 11 can be considered as a FIFO (first in first out) memory.

  Next, the reproduction of the image data and audio data stored in the RAM 11 is performed based on the read address from the CPU 10. Further, when the image data recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14 is reproduced, the data is read from the magneto-optical disk 14 by the disk driver 13.

  The compressed image data and audio data read out from the magneto-optical disk 14 are temporarily stored in the RAM 11, and EFM is demodulated and error correction processing is performed by the CPU 10, and then the corresponding data is handled via the bus. It is sent to the image compression / expansion circuit 6 or the audio compression / expansion circuit 22.

  The compressed image data sent to the image compression / decompression circuit 6 is subjected to decompression processing that is the reverse of the compression processing by the decompression unit of the compression / decompression circuit 6, and then passes through the buffer memory 5. To the signal processing circuit 7. The signal processing circuit 7 converts the image data from the buffer memory 5 into image data that can be displayed on the monitor device 9. That is, when the monitor device 9 uses a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT) as a display screen, processing corresponding to them is performed. The image data from the signal processing circuit 7 is converted into an analog image signal by a digital / analog (D / A) converter 8 and sent to the monitor device 9 for display. The monitor device 9 captures not only the image data stored in the RAM 11 or the magneto-optical disk 14 but also the image sensor 1 and stores it in the buffer memory 5 via the A / D converter 3 and the signal processing circuit 4. It is also possible to display the image data obtained through the signal processing circuit 7 and the D / A converter 8 by reading the processed data as it is.

  On the other hand, the compressed audio data sent to the audio compression / decompression circuit 22 is subjected to an expansion process consisting of the reverse of the compression process by the expansion unit of the audio compression / decompression circuit 22. The expanded audio data is converted into an analog audio signal by the D / A converter 23, amplified by the amplifier 24, and then output from the audio output terminal 25.

  The CPU 10 is a microcomputer for controlling each unit in addition to the processing described above, and controls the image compression / decompression circuit 6, the audio compression / decompression circuit 22, the disk driver 13, and the like. Further, the CPU 10 performs the shutter opening / closing time control of the optical system based on on / off of the shutter button 16 of the electronic still camera of the present embodiment, the aperture amount control, and the like, and a shooting mode for switching a shooting mode to be described later. The switching signal from the switch 15, the voice recording switch 25 for instructing whether or not to record voice, the voice signal from the microphone 17 or the voice signal from the voice line input terminal is switched. The audio signal processing system and the like are also controlled in accordance with a switching signal from the switch 19 or the like.

  Next, the operation of the electronic still camera of this embodiment will be described using the following flowchart.

  First, the flowchart of FIG. 2 shows switching between the still image mode, the continuous shooting mode, the pseudo moving image mode, and the after-recording mode by the shooting mode switch 15 and the operation in the after-recording mode.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 2, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the shooting mode switch 15 is turned on. That is, the operation of the electronic still camera according to the present embodiment differs depending on the mode set by the shooting mode switch 15, and if it is determined in step S1 that the shooting mode switch 15 is not turned on, the step If the determination of S1 is repeated and it is determined that it is turned on, the process proceeds to step S2.

  In step S2, it is determined whether or not the still image mode has been selected by the shooting mode switch 15. If it is determined that the still image mode has been selected, the process proceeds to step S20, and if it is determined that the still image mode has not been selected. Proceed to step S3. The processing after step S20 will be described later.

  In step S3, it is determined whether or not the continuous shooting mode is selected by the shooting mode switch 15. If it is determined that the continuous shooting mode is selected, the process proceeds to step S40, and if it is determined that the continuous shooting mode is not selected. Advances to step S4. The processing after step S40 will be described later.

  In step S4, it is determined whether or not the pseudo moving image mode is selected with the shooting mode switch 15. If it is determined that the pseudo moving image mode is selected, the process proceeds to step S70, and if it is determined that the pseudo moving image mode is not selected. Advances to step S5. The processing after step S70 will be described later.

  In step S5, it is determined whether or not the post-recording mode has been selected by the shooting mode switch 15. If it is determined that the post-recording mode has been selected, the process proceeds to step S6. If it is determined that the post-recording mode has not been selected, step S2 is performed. Return to. If it is determined in step S5 that the post-recording mode has not been selected, it is possible to return to step S1.

  Here, the post-recording mode is a mode in which audio input from the microphone 17 or the audio line input terminal 18 is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14 irrespective of the image. In step S6 when it is determined that the after-recording mode is selected in step S5, it is determined whether or not the voice recording switch 25 is turned on. If it is determined that the voice recording switch 25 is not turned on, the process of step S6 is performed. If it is determined that it is turned on, the process proceeds to step S7.

  In step S7, the audio compression / decompression circuit 22 starts audio compression processing. In the next step S8, recording of the compressed audio data to the magneto-optical disk 14 via the RAM 11 is started. After step S8, it is determined whether or not the voice recording switch 25 is turned off in step S9. If it is determined that the voice recording switch 25 is not turned off, the determination in step S9 is repeated, and if it is determined that it is turned off. Proceed to step S10.

  In step S10, the audio compression processing in the audio compression / decompression circuit 22 is terminated, and then in step S11, recording on the magneto-optical disk 14 is also terminated.

  Next, in step S20 when the still image mode is selected in step S2 of FIG. 2, the processes of the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 are performed. When the still image mode is selected, every time the shutter button 16 is pressed, the compression encoding of the image information and the recording of the compression encoded image data on the magneto-optical disk 14 via the RAM 11 are performed. Is called. That is, in the still image mode, only one image data is stored in the RAM 11 and the compressed data from the RAM 11 is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 3, when the process proceeds from step S2 in FIG. 2 to step S20, still image mode processing is started in step S21. When the still image mode process is started, it is determined whether or not the shutter button 16 is turned on in step S22. If it is determined that the shutter button 16 is not turned on, the determination in step S22 is repeated and turned on. If it is determined that the process has been performed, the process proceeds to step S23.

  In step S23, an image freeze process is performed to prohibit new fetching of image data sequentially sent from the image sensor 1 through the signal processing circuit 4 into the buffer memory 5. In the next step S24, the image freeze process is performed. The image compression / decompression circuit 6 starts the compression process of the image data written to and read from the buffer memory 5 immediately before the image freeze process. In step S25, it is determined whether or not the compression process has ended. If it is determined that the compression process has not ended, the determination in step S25 is repeated. If it is determined that the compression process has ended, the process proceeds to step S26.

  In step S26, the compressed image data is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 3, for example, if there is an interruption process for recording audio from the audio recording switch 25 during the process from step S21 to step S25, the process shown in FIG. The operation of the voice switch interruption process after step S30 in the flowchart is also performed.

  In FIG. 4, in the audio switch interruption process in the still image mode in the audio recording switch 25 in step S30, it is determined whether or not the audio recording switch 25 is turned on in step S31. If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S25 to return to the time of the voice switch interruption process in the flowchart of FIG. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S31 that the audio recording switch 25 has been turned on, the audio compression processing in the audio compression / decompression circuit 22 is started in step S32.

  In the next step S33, it is determined whether or not the voice recording switch 25 is turned off. If it is determined that the voice recording switch 25 is not turned off, the determination in step S33 is repeated. If it is determined that the voice recording switch 25 is turned off, step S34 is performed. Then, after completing the voice compression process in step S34, the process returns to the voice switch interrupt process time point in the flowchart of FIG.

  For this reason, in the flowchart of FIG. 3, in step S27 following step S26, it is determined whether or not the audio compression processing has been completed. If the determination in S27 is repeated and it is determined that the process has been completed, the process proceeds to step S28.

  In step S28, the audio data for which the compression process has been completed is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14, and then the still image mode process is terminated in step S29.

  Next, in step S3 when the continuous shooting mode is selected in step S3 of FIG. 2, the processes of the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 are performed. That is, when this continuous shooting mode is selected, compression encoding is performed while the shutter button 16 is kept pressed, and it is stored in the high-speed RAM 11, and the remaining capacity of the RAM 11 becomes zero. Alternatively, recording on the magneto-optical disk 14 is performed when the shutter button 16 is released (turned off). In the continuous shooting mode, recording is performed on the magneto-optical disk 14 with high image quality (at least 64 kbytes or 128 kbytes are used per image). Therefore, several pieces of image data are stored in the RAM 11 and then sequentially recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14. The sound recording in the continuous shooting mode is performed in the same manner as in the still image mode.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 5, when the process proceeds from step S3 in FIG. 2 to step S40, the continuous shooting mode process is started in step S41. When the processing in the continuous shooting mode is started, interruption of image freeze is permitted in step S42.

  In the next step S43, it is determined whether or not the shutter button 16 is turned on. If it is determined that the shutter button 16 is not turned on, the determination in step S43 is repeated. If it is determined that the shutter button 16 is turned on, the process proceeds to step S44. . In step S44, the image freeze process is performed in response to the shutter button 16 being turned on, and in the next step S45, the image compression / decompression circuit 6 writes and reads data in the buffer memory 5 immediately before the image freeze process. The compression processing of the processed image data is started.

  In the next step S46, it is determined whether or not the remaining capacity of the buffer memory 5 is insufficient or whether the shutter button 16 is turned off. Returning to S44, if it is determined that the remaining capacity of the buffer memory 5 is insufficient or the shutter button 16 is turned off, the process proceeds to step S47.

  In step S47, the image freeze interrupt is prohibited, and in the next step S48, the compressed image data is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14.

  Also in the continuous shooting mode shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, if there is an interruption process for recording audio from the audio recording switch 25 during the process from step S41 to step S48, for example, the above image is displayed. Simultaneously with this process, the operation of the voice switch interruption process after step S60 in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is also performed.

  In FIG. 6, in the voice switch interruption process in the continuous shooting mode in the voice recording switch 25 in step S60, it is determined whether or not the voice recording switch 25 is turned on in step S61. If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S65 to return to the time of the voice switch interruption process in the flowchart of FIG. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S61 that the audio recording switch 25 has been turned on, the audio compression processing in the audio compression / decompression circuit 22 is started in step S62.

  In the next step S63, it is determined whether or not the voice recording switch 25 is turned off. If it is determined that the voice recording switch 25 is not turned off, the determination in step S63 is repeated. If it is determined that the voice recording switch 25 is turned off, step S64 is performed. Then, after completing the voice compression process in step S64, the process returns to the voice switch interrupt process point in the flowchart of FIG.

  For this reason, in the flowchart of FIG. 6, in step S49 subsequent to step S48, it is determined whether or not the audio compression process has been completed. If the determination in S49 is repeated and it is determined that the process has been completed, the process proceeds to step S50.

  In step S50, the audio data for which the compression process has been completed is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14, and then the continuous shooting mode process is terminated in step S51.

  Next, in step S4 when the pseudo moving image mode is selected in step S4 of FIG. 2, the process of the flowchart of FIG. 7 is performed. When the pseudo moving image mode is selected, first, when the shutter button 16 is pressed, the compression process is started and recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14, and when the shutter button 16 is pressed again, the compression and recording are performed. Exit. In other words, the pseudo moving image mode is a mode for recording a moving image in which the image quality is somewhat sacrificed compared to the still image mode or the continuous shooting mode. For example, the image is compressed to 32 kbytes per image and 4 frames per second. In this mode, continuous shooting is performed continuously. In this case, since the average transfer rate from the compression unit of the image compression / decompression circuit 6 to the RAM 11 and the transfer rate from the RAM 11 to the magneto-optical disk 14 are substantially the same, unless the RAM 11 is overflowed or underflowed, the light is extended. A pseudo moving image can be recorded on the magnetic disk 14. Furthermore, by increasing the compression rate, it is possible to record about 10 frames per second. However, in this case, since the deterioration of the image becomes conspicuous, when the image is displayed, the image is displayed by being thinned out in the vertical and horizontal halves. Although continuous shooting in the continuous shooting mode can be performed at high speed, continuous shooting is a mode in which a high-quality still image can be recorded for only a few seconds. It is a mode that can record a video even in the range. Furthermore, the sound in the pseudo moving image mode is recorded as it is, such as a so-called camcorder.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 7, when the process proceeds from step S4 in FIG. 2 to step S70, the process of the pseudo moving image mode is started in step S71. When the process of the pseudo moving image mode is started, an interrupt of image freeze is permitted in step S72.

  In the next step S73, it is determined whether or not the shutter button 16 is turned on. If it is determined that the shutter button 16 is not turned on, the determination in step S73 is repeated. If it is determined that the shutter button 16 is turned on, the process proceeds to step S74. . In step S74, audio compression processing in the audio compression / decompression circuit 22 is started. That is, in this pseudo moving image mode, audio compression recording and termination are performed in conjunction with the start and end of image compression recording.

  In the next step S75, an image freeze process is performed. In the next step S76, the image compression / decompression circuit 6 starts the compression process of the image data written and read in the buffer memory 5 immediately before the image freeze process. To do.

  In the next step S77, it is determined whether or not the shutter button 16 is turned on again. If it is determined that the shutter button 16 is not turned on, the process returns to step S75 to repeat the same processing. Proceed to step S78. Note that recording between the magneto-optical disk 14 via the RAM 11 is started between step S76 and step S77. If it is determined in step S77 that the shutter button 16 has not been turned on and the process returns to step S75, depending on how many frames of the pseudo moving image are per second, for example, as shown in FIG. A freeze pulse (an example of a pulse in the case of 6 frames per second is given in FIG. 8) is generated, thereby performing an interrupt process.

  In step S78, the image freeze interrupt is prohibited, and in the next step S79, the audio compression process is terminated.

  In the next step S80, it is determined whether or not all compressed image data and compressed audio data have been recorded on the magneto-optical disk 14. If it is determined in step S80 that recording has not been performed, the determination in step S80 is repeated. If it is determined that recording has been performed, the process proceeds to step S81.

  In step S81, after the recording on the magneto-optical disk 14 is completed, the process of the pseudo moving image mode is ended in step S82.

  Note that the CPU 10 performs determination of each flowchart described above, control of each unit, and the like.

  As described above, the electronic still camera according to the embodiment of the present invention compresses the image information from the image sensor 1 for converting the image of the subject through the optical system into an electrical signal and the image information from the image sensor 1. A high-speed RAM 11 for temporarily storing high-quality continuous image compression data, a large-capacity magneto-optical disk 14 for storing compression-encoded information, The magneto-optical disk 14 includes, for example, a so-called magneto-optical disk 14 having a shooting mode switch 15 that can switch shooting modes such as normal still images, continuous shooting, and pseudo moving images, and a CPU 10 that can detect the switching of the shooting mode. Since a large-capacity and inexpensive recording medium such as a mini-disc is used, not only 1000 to 2000 still images but also several tens of seconds or several minutes of pseudo moving images, Continuous still image of high quality, sound is also recorded, it becomes possible to play. Furthermore, in the electronic still camera of the present embodiment, still images, continuous shooting, pseudo moving images, audio, and the like can be mixed and recorded in one magneto-optical disk 14.

  In other words, in the electronic still camera of the present embodiment, it is possible to record freely without worrying about the remaining number of records that can be recorded by the user and the cost per image, and only for still images. First, it is possible to record several seconds of high-quality continuous shooting, several minutes of pseudo moving images, and audio on a single recording medium.

It is a block circuit diagram which shows schematic structure of the electronic still camera of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement at the time of each imaging | photography mode and post-recording mode of the electronic still camera of this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of still image mode. It is a flowchart which shows the audio | voice switch interruption process at the time of still image mode. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of continuous shooting mode. It is a flowchart which shows the voice switch interruption process at the time of continuous shooting mode. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of pseudo | simulation moving image mode. It is a figure which shows an example of a freeze pulse.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image sensor, 2 Image sensor driver, 3,21 A / D converter, 4,7 Signal processing circuit, 5 Buffer memory, 6 Image compression / decompression circuit, 8,23 D / A converter, 9 Monitor device, 10 CPU, 11 RAM, 13 disk driver, 14 magneto-optical disk, 15 shooting mode switch, 16 shutter button, 17 microphone, 18 audio line input terminal, 19 switch, 20, 24 amplifier, 22 audio compression / decompression circuit, 25 audio recording switch

Claims (5)

An imaging means for converting an image formed on the imaging surface into an electrical signal to obtain image information;
Voice information input means for inputting voice information;
Operation means;
Image compression means for compressing the image information;
Audio compression means for compressing the audio information;
A semiconductor memory means for temporarily storing a plurality of compressed image information or audio information;
A large-capacity recording medium for recording compressed image information or audio information;
Control means for controlling at least compression of the image compression means or audio compression means, writing / reading of the semiconductor memory means, and recording of the recording medium;
The control means starts the compression by the image compression means in accordance with the operation of the operation means, compresses image information for each predetermined period by the image compression means, and operates in conjunction with the image compression means for audio information. Is compressed by the audio compression means, and the image data and audio data for the plurality of sheets stored in the semiconductor memory means after accumulating a plurality of pieces of image data and audio data in the semiconductor memory means are stored in the semiconductor memory means. An electronic still camera, wherein control is performed so that recording is performed on a recording medium. 2. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, wherein the large-capacity recording medium is a predetermined disk. 3. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the image information. The electronic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an image decompression unit that decompresses the compressed image information and an audio decompression unit that decompresses the compressed audio information. Still camera. The plurality of shooting modes include at least a still image mode for recording a still image on the recording medium, a continuous shooting mode for recording a continuous still image on the recording medium, and a continuous still image close to a moving image on the recording medium. 5. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, wherein the electronic still camera has a pseudo moving image mode for recording on a recording medium and a sound recording mode for recording only sound on the recording medium.

Images