JP2005244614A - Electronic camera device and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable to give understandable display to a user, resulting in shortening a searching time. <P>SOLUTION: A directory name (second directory name) not conforming to DCF is inputted for a directory name (first directory name) conforming to the DCF, an image file name (second image file name) not conforming to the DCF is inputted for an image file name (first image file name) conforming to the DCF. Then, a management file 100 is created in which correspondence between the first directory name and the second directory name, correspondence between the first image file name and the second file name, and attributes information are recorded using the first directory name as a file name. One or more items from among the second directory name, the second file name and the attributes information are inputted to set a search condition of a desired image file, and the desired image file is searched on the basis of the condition. If the image file is searched, an image of the image file and a second file name corresponding to this are displayed from a display unit 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera device conforming to a DCF (Design rule for Camera File system) standard, and more particularly to an electronic camera device having a search function for image data photographed by the electronic camera device.

  The electronic camera device compliant with the DCF standard performs file management with a structure having contents decided by DCF Ver1.0, which is a camera file system standard, when image data obtained by photographing is stored in a recording medium. ing.

  In the DCF standard, promise items are stipulated in detail for a file name at the time of data recording, a name of a directory (folder) holding the file, a storage location, and the like. For example, in the conventional DCF standard, a file is distinguished by only a 3-digit number for a directory and a 4-digit number for a file.

  Such a file management structure based on the DCF standard is very convenient in managing the data group recorded by the electronic camera apparatus itself.

  However, when viewed from the user side, the user is not allowed to assign arbitrary file names to the recorded data group, and the user is also required to manage directories that are important for management. Is not allowed to give an arbitrary name, which causes inconvenience in handling. In particular, the capacity of a recording medium connected to an electronic camera device compliant with the DCF standard has been increasing year by year. By using wireless technology in the future, the recording medium will be a hard disk of a PC (Personal Computer) server. When an image is directly recorded / stored on a large-capacity recording medium, for example, the above problem becomes remarkable.

In order to solve this problem, the user can give an arbitrary file name or directory name while maintaining compatibility with the existing file management structure compliant with the DCF standard. An electronic camera device and a file management method that can effectively improve performance have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-142185 (see page 7, FIG. 4)

  As described above, there has been proposed a file management method that allows a user to assign an arbitrary file name or directory name while maintaining compatibility with an existing file management structure compliant with the DCF standard.

  However, it is often difficult for a user to select desired image data from a large number of image data based only on directory names and file names.

  In other words, as the capacity of the recording medium attached to the electronic camera device increases, the number of directories and image data recorded in the electronic camera device is far greater than the number that can be clearly stored by humans, and is recorded by shooting. You might even forget what you did.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and allows the user to assign an arbitrary file name or directory name while maintaining compatibility with an existing file management structure compliant with the DCF standard. Furthermore, it also manages attribute information such as comments and shooting sensitivity so that the user can easily search for any image from the image file after shooting, enabling display that is easy for the user to understand, and consequently shortening the search time. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic camera device that can be used.

  In order to achieve the above object, an electronic camera device according to the present invention is an electronic camera device that records image data obtained by photographing on a recording medium with a file management structure compliant with the DCF standard. Directory name input means for inputting a second directory name that is a directory name that does not conform to the DCF standard with respect to a first directory name that is a directory name recorded in a compliant file management structure; and the DCF File name input for inputting a second image file name that is an image file name that does not conform to the DCF standard with respect to a first file name that is an image file name recorded with a file management structure that conforms to the standard And the first directory name as a recording name, the first directory name and the first directory The second image file name, the first image file name and the second image file name corresponding to the first image file name, and the second image file. A management file creation means for recording attribute information corresponding to a name on the recording medium, and inputting at least one of the second directory name, the second image file name, and the attribute information. Search condition setting means for setting search conditions for the image file, image search means for searching for the desired image file using the search conditions set by the search condition setting means, and the image file by the image search means Display means for displaying the image file of the image file and the second file name corresponding to the image file when the image file is searched. It is set to.

  Further, the recording medium of the present invention is a recording medium in which image data obtained by photographing is recorded with a file management structure compliant with the DCF standard, and a directory name recorded with the file management structure compliant with the DCF standard. The first directory name is a recording name, and the correspondence between the first directory name and the second directory name corresponding to the first directory name and a directory name in a form not defined in the DCF standard. A first image file name that is an image file name recorded with a file management structure compliant with the DCF standard, and an image file name corresponding to the first image file name and not defined in the DCF standard. Correspondence with a certain second image file name, photographing date, comment, photographing sensitivity, shutter speed corresponding to the second image file name At least one attribute information is characterized in that it is recorded from the attribute information is information aperture.

  A display that can be easily understood by the user is enabled, and as a result, the search time can be shortened.

  A first embodiment of an electronic camera device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic camera device according to the present invention. The electronic camera device 1 includes an imaging unit 10, a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, an operation unit 14, and a display unit 15 as main components. The imaging unit 10, the storage unit 12, the operation unit 14, and the display unit 15 are each connected to the control unit 11.

  Next, the configuration of each element will be described.

  The imaging unit 10 converts an optical image of the photographed subject into an electrical image signal. The image signal output from the imaging unit 10 is supplied to a control unit 11 incorporating a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

  The control unit 11 performs predetermined signal processing on the input image signal using the storage area of the storage unit 12 and the stored program, and then the recording unit 13 is detachable from the electronic camera device 1. The file management structure is compatible with the DCF standard.

  In addition, the control unit 11 has a function of writing an arbitrary file name input and set by the user via the operation unit 14 and the display unit 15 to the recording medium 13 as a management file 100 having an extension “XML” described later. Have.

  Here, the management file 100 having the extension “XML” written in the recording medium 13 is read from the recording medium 13 and analyzed by the CPU of the control unit 11.

  In addition, when the 2-byte character is used for the file name of the management file 100 itself or the description in the management file 100, the control unit 11 reads the corresponding character code from a kanji ROM (Read Only Memory) (not shown), A file name, a directory name, and the like are displayed on the operation unit 14 and the display unit 15 together with the image data.

  Next, a basic example of a file management structure to which the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic example of the file management structure of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the part other than the management file 100 has a configuration conforming to the DCF standard.

  That is, a directory called DCIM exists immediately under the root directory of the recording medium 13. In this directory, the photographed data is a three-digit number (100 to 999), such as “100TOSHI”, and the last five characters that can be used independently by the developer in DOS (Disk Operation System). A configured directory is created, and PDR_0001. Like JPG, it is saved as a file that consists of four characters and four-digit numbers (0001 to 9999) that can be used independently by DOS. This is a matter determined by the DCF standard, and still images can be correctly reproduced between different manufacturers because this agreement is observed.

  On the other hand, the management file 100 exists in a form independent of the DCF standard. In this embodiment, one management file 100 exists for one directory.

  That is, there is a management file 100 “100TOSHI.XML” corresponding to the directory “100TOSHI”, and hereinafter, a management file 100 “101TOSHI.XML” corresponding to “101TOSHI” and “102TOSHI”. A management file 100 “102TOSHI.XML” exists. Depending on the processing performance of the electronic camera device, a plurality of directories may be managed by one management file 100.

  The management file 100 is characterized in that the file name has the same name as the corresponding directory and conforms to the description of XML (extensible Markup Language), so that the extension name is “XML”.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the description format of the management file 100. Here, the description of the file “100TOSHI.XML” shown in FIG. 2 is shown. The management file 100 is roughly divided into three pieces of information: directory name information, image file name information, and attribute information.

  Here, the directory name information is a portion indicating the name of the directory managed by the management file 100. Here, since the directory name “travel” is specified by the user, the directory name “100 TOSHI” compliant with the DCF standard is displayed to the user as the directory name “travel” via the display unit 15. Will be.

  On the other hand, the image file name information is a part indicating the name of the image file managed by the management file 100. Here, the file names “PDR — 0001.JPG”, “PDR — 0002.JPG”, “PDR — 0003.JPG”, and “PDR — 0004.JPG” are “Beach”, “Hotel”, “Mr. Chatheline”, “ Since the file name “Airport” is designated, the file name “PDR — 0001.JPG” compliant with the DCF standard is displayed to the user with the file name “Beach” via the display unit 15. “PDR — 0002.JPG” is displayed as a “hotel”, “PDR — 0003.JPG” is displayed as “Mr. Chatherine”, and “PDR — 0004.JPG” is displayed as a “airport”.

  Furthermore, the attribute information is a part that manages the attributes of the image file. In other words, it is a portion in which attribute information such as the shooting date, comment, shooting sensitivity, shutter speed, aperture value, etc. of image data is recorded, and is used as a search condition when searching for an image file to be described later. In FIG. 3, the image file “PDR — 0001.JPG” was taken on January 1, 2003, the comment is “Sci!”, The sensitivity is “400”, the shutter speed is “1/30”, and the aperture value is Data “11” is managed.

  Next, a description will be given of a case where a directory is actually displayed using the electronic camera device 1. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for displaying a directory in the electronic camera device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, as shown in FIG. 2, there are four directories conforming to the DCF standard from “100 TOSHI” to “103 TOSHI”, and the corresponding management files 100 are “100 TOSHI.XML” to “103 TOSHI.XML”. It is assumed that the directory names “travel”, “park”, “conference”, and “event” are designated by the user.

  First, the electronic camera device 1 confirms whether there is a request for displaying a directory recorded in the recording medium 13 by the user via the operation unit 14 (step S100). Thereby, when there is no such request (No in step S100), this determination is continued until this request is made.

  On the other hand, when there is a directory display request (Yes in step S100), the control unit 11 confirms whether the management file 100 exists on the recording medium 13 (step S101).

  As a result, when the control unit 11 determines that the management file 100 does not exist on the recording medium 13 (No in Step S101), the control unit 11 displays that the directory does not exist (Step S110). On the other hand, if the control unit 11 determines that the management file 100 exists on the recording medium 13 (Yes in step S101), it next checks whether a corresponding directory exists for each management file 100 (step S102). .

  In the present embodiment, first, assuming that “100 TOSHI.XML” exists, “100 TOSHI = travel” is confirmed from the description of the management file 100. Therefore, the control unit 11 confirms that the directory name “100TOSHI” is named “travel” by the user, and stores it in the storage unit 12. Then, it is confirmed whether a directory “100 TOSHI” actually exists immediately under the DCIM directory.

Such confirmation is similarly performed for “101 TOSHI.XML” to “103 TOSHI.XML”.

  Next, for each directory corresponding to each management file 100, one image file for directory display is searched from the recording medium 13 (step S103). For example, as shown in FIG. 2, an image file is PDR — 0001.100 in a directory “100 TOSHI” corresponding to “travel”. JPG-PDR_0004. The image file (herein referred to as “PDR — 0001.JPG”) that is searched first among these exists in the storage unit 12. This process is performed for each directory.

  Next, the control unit 11 displays a directory on the display unit 15 based on the information stored in the storage unit 12 (step S104). For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the directory is displayed by superimposing the image diagram of the image file stored in step S103 on the shape representing the outline of the directory, and the corresponding directory name is displayed next to the user. Takes the form of displaying with the specified directory name.

  As described above, when the electronic camera device 1 performs the control as shown in FIG. 4, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5A, when displaying a directory, the display unit 15 displays a directory conforming to the DCF standard. Although only the name can be displayed, the directory can be displayed with an arbitrary directory name designated by the user as shown in FIG. Therefore, a display that can be easily understood by the user is enabled, and as a result, the search time can be shortened.

  Next, display of a file that is image data managed for each directory using the electronic camera device 1 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for displaying a file in the electronic camera device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, a file name conforming to the DCF standard such as “PDR — 0001.JPG”, “PDR — 0002.JPG”, “PDR — 0003.JPG”, “PDR — 0004.JPG” is set by the management file 100. Assume that file names “Beach”, “Hotel”, “Mr. Chatheline”, and “Airport” are designated.

  First, in the electronic camera device 1, a directory is displayed as shown in FIG. 4 (step S200). In this embodiment, the display as shown in FIG. 5B is displayed via the display unit 15.

  Next, it is confirmed whether a desired directory has been selected by the user (step S201). For this selection, for example, by operating the directory selection button (or icon) shown in FIG. 5B, the directory selection button is moved to the directory displayed on the display unit 15, and the enter button is pressed. Thus, the file managed by the selected directory is searched. If it is determined from this confirmation that no directory selection has been made (No in step S201), the confirmation is continued until this selection is made.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the directory has been selected (Yes in step S201), the control unit 11 confirms the description of the management file 100 in the selected directory and determines whether the image file name exists. Is confirmed (step S202).

  If it is determined by this confirmation that the control file 11 has no image file name in the management file 100 searched (No in step S202), the display unit 15 displays that no image file exists (step S210). ). On the other hand, if the control unit 11 determines that an image file name exists in the management file 100 (Yes in step S202), then the image having a file name that conforms to the DCF standard corresponding to each image file name. It is confirmed whether the file actually exists (step S203).

  In this embodiment, first, in order to confirm the existence of an image file named “beach” by the user, an image file “PDR — 001.JPG” that is a file name compliant with the DCF standard corresponding to “beach” exists. Confirm whether to do. This confirmation is performed by searching from “100 TOSHI” which is a directory name conforming to the DCF standard corresponding to the directory named “travel” as the directory name.

  As a result, when the control unit 11 cannot confirm the image file “PDR — 001.JPG” in the directory “100TOSHI” (No in step S203), the process of step S203 is performed on the next image file. On the other hand, if the image file can be confirmed (Yes in step S203), the image of the confirmed image file is stored in the storage unit 12 (step S204).

  Next, the control unit 11 confirms whether there are more image files in the directory (step S205). As a result, when it is determined that the image file exists (Yes in step S205), the process returns to step S203 and the above processing is repeated.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that there are no more image files (No in step S205), the control unit 11 displays the image file on the display unit 15 based on the information stored in the storage unit 12 (step S206). ). For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the image file is displayed by displaying an image of the searched image file, and the file name corresponding to the side is not a file name based on the DCF standard, Takes the form of displaying with the specified file name. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, attribute information managed by the management file 100 such as the shooting date may be displayed in parallel with the file name. Further, when the image to be displayed is a moving image file, for example, the first frame image to be reproduced is displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. A mark may be displayed.

  As described above, as shown in FIG. 7A, when displaying an image file, only the directory name conforming to the DCF standard can be displayed from the display unit 15, but the electronic camera device 1 is shown in FIG. By performing the control as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to display with an arbitrary file name designated by the user as shown in FIG. Therefore, a display that can be easily understood by the user is enabled, and as a result, the search time can be shortened.

  Next, a case where an arbitrary image file is searched and displayed using attribute information will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart when searching and displaying using the attribute information in the electronic camera device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, as described above, description will be made using the example of FIGS.

  First, the electronic camera device 1 confirms whether there is a search request for an image file recorded on the recording medium 13 by the user via the operation unit 14 (step S300). If the control unit 11 determines that there is no request for image file search (No in step S300), the determination is continued until this request is made.

  On the other hand, when the control unit 11 determines that there is a file search request (Yes in step S300), the control unit 11 displays a condition setting menu for searching for an image file via the display unit 15 ( Step S301). By this processing, for example, a search condition setting menu as shown in FIG. 9A is displayed.

  Next, the control unit 11 checks whether or not the user has input attribute information as a search keyword in the condition setting menu (step S302). That is, when the condition setting menu is displayed from the display unit 15, the user can input attribute information in a file desired to be searched, and the attribute information is added to the corresponding part of the search condition setting menu for the electronic camera device 1. Will be entered.

  For example, if you search for an image file called “Beach”, you can enter “Beach” in the file name, or if you forget the file name, you can find the directory name and other attribute information. If so, you can enter it.

  As a result, when it cannot be confirmed that the attribute information for search is input (No in step S302), the above confirmation is continued until this input is made. On the other hand, when the control unit 11 can confirm the input of the attribute information (Yes in step S302), the designated image file is searched from the recording medium 13 based on the input information (step S303). .

  Next, it is determined whether or not the designated image file has been searched (step S304).

  As a result, when the control unit 11 cannot search for the designated image file from the recording medium 13 (No in step S304), the display unit 15 displays that the file could not be searched for ( Step S310). On the other hand, if the designated image file can be retrieved (Yes in step S304), the following processing is performed to display the image.

  That is, first, the control unit 11 stores the image file in the storage unit 12, and further stores the file name of the file designated by the user with reference to the description of the management file 100 in the storage unit 12. Then, the image of the image file and the file name of the image file are displayed via the display unit 15 (step S305).

  Depending on how the attribute information is input, the number of files that can be searched is not limited to one, and there may be a plurality of files. In that case, for example, as shown in FIG. 7B, a plurality of images may be displayed in parallel.

  As described above, the electronic camera device 1 performs the control as shown in FIG. 8, so that necessary image data from the captured image data is not only displayed from the image display, but also from the directory name, the file name, and the image. Search based on attribute information. Therefore, a display that can be easily understood by the user is possible, and as a result, the search time can be shortened.

  Note that the condition setting menu that is frequently used as a search condition, such as date search, may be provided with a separate search menu, such as the date search menu in FIG. 9B. For example, if you want to display all images taken on February 17, 2004, select the search date with the item selection button and press Enter as shown in FIG. 9B. The menu structure may be as follows.

The block diagram which shows embodiment of the electronic camera apparatus by this invention. The figure which showed the basic example of the management structure of the file of this invention. The figure which showed the example of the description format of the management file. The flowchart in the case of performing the directory display in the electronic camera apparatus 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure at the time of displaying a directory name on the display part 15. FIG. The flowchart in the case of displaying the image file in the electronic camera apparatus 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure at the time of displaying a file name on the display part 15. FIG. The flowchart in the case of searching and displaying using the attribute information in the electronic camera apparatus 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure at the time of displaying the condition setting menu on the display part 15. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic camera apparatus 10 Imaging part 11 Control part 12 Storage part 13 Recording medium 14 Operation part 15 Display part 100 Management file

Claims (5)

In an electronic camera device for recording image data obtained by shooting on a recording medium with a file management structure compliant with the DCF standard,
Directory name input means for inputting a second directory name that is a directory name that does not conform to the DCF standard to a first directory name that is a directory name recorded with a file management structure that conforms to the DCF standard. When,
A file for inputting a second image file name that is an image file name that does not conform to the DCF standard with respect to a first file name that is an image file name recorded with the file management structure conforming to the DCF standard Name input means;
The first directory name is a recording name, the correspondence between the first directory name and the second directory name corresponding to the first directory name, the first image file name and the first directory name. Management file creation means for recording the correspondence with the second image file name corresponding to the image file name and the attribute information corresponding to the second image file name on the recording medium;
Search condition setting means for setting a search condition for a desired image file by inputting at least one of the second directory name, the second image file name, and the attribute information;
Image search means for searching for the desired image file using search conditions set by the search condition setting means;
Display means for displaying an image file of the image file and the second file name corresponding to the image file when the image file is searched by the image search means;
An electronic camera device comprising:   The electronic camera apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information includes a shooting date, a comment, a shooting sensitivity, a shutter speed, and an aperture value of the image file.   The electronic camera apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit also displays the attribute information corresponding to the searched image file.   The search means displays a calendar, selects at least one date display from the date display of the calendar, and searches the image file having the shooting date corresponding to the selected date display as the attribute information. The electronic camera device according to claim 1, wherein: In a recording medium in which image data obtained by shooting is recorded with a file management structure compliant with the DCF standard,
The first directory name, which is the directory name recorded in the file management structure compliant with the DCF standard, is used as the recording name.
A correspondence between the first directory name and a second directory name corresponding to the first directory name and a directory name in a form not defined in the DCF standard;
A first image file name which is an image file name recorded with a file management structure compliant with the DCF standard, and a first image file name corresponding to the first image file name and having a form not defined in the DCF standard. Correspondence with image file name of 2,
At least one attribute information among attribute information that is information of a shooting date, a comment, a shooting sensitivity, a shutter speed, and an aperture value corresponding to the second image file name;
Recording medium on which is recorded.

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