JP2006014022A - Digital photographing device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital photographing device and method capable of obtaining information useful to marketing and customer services by writing photographer information on an object. <P>SOLUTION: When the object is photographed, an IC tag reader/writer built in or externally attached to a digital photographing device and an IC tag 2 attached to the object use a radio communication means to perform communication, writing the photographer information on the IC tag 2 attached to the object. Since this makes it possible to acquire what digital photographing device the object is photographed by in the past, photographer information (including name, age, sex, occupation, telephone number, and address or the like) and information such as photographing date and hour, it is possible to acquire information useful to marketing and customer services, such as among what photographers the object is popular to be photographed and a time zone when the object is frequently photographed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital photographing apparatus and method using an IC tag.

  In recent years, an “IC tag” having an integrated circuit with memory in an article (generally, “non-contact data carrier”, “wireless IC tag”, “non-contact IC”, “non-contact IC label”, “non-contact IC tag”, In some cases, it is expressed as “RFID” etc.), and various types of information are recorded to display product information, rationalize physical distribution, or manage goods. This IC tag generally has a memory to store information and can be read by an IC tag reader / writer.

  Conventionally, in a digital photographing apparatus, an image recording apparatus such as a digital camera that records related information of a photographed image such as a photographing date and a title in association with each photographed image has been proposed. This has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-12880 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-81583 (Patent Document 2), and the like. Hereinafter, information recorded in association with each photographed image, such as the photographing date and time and title recorded in the conventional digital photographing apparatus, will be referred to as “image related information”. The user can search and manage image files by using such image-related information.

  Here, the attribute information of the subject itself includes subject identification number, subject name, Internet URL information storing information about the subject, video related to the subject, audio information related to the subject, text information, and the like. Say.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-174578 (Patent Document 3) collects related information related to a subject by communicating with the subject when shooting with an electronic camera, and stores the related information in the shooting screen. It is described that the image data is stored in association with the position.
JP 60-12880 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-81583 JP 2003-174578 A

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes collecting information about a subject by communicating with the subject, but does not mention writing photographer information on the subject. For this reason, it is possible to obtain information useful for marketing or customer service by writing photographer information on a subject and referring to the information, but it has reached the point of writing photographer information on a subject. There wasn't.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a digital photographing apparatus and method capable of acquiring information useful for marketing and customer service by writing photographer information on a subject. There is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a digital photographing apparatus for photographing a subject, including an IC tag reader / writer that is built in or externally attached to wirelessly communicate with an IC tag attached to the subject, The photographer information is written to the IC tag attached to the subject by the writer.

  Further, the present invention provides a digital photographing apparatus for photographing a subject, including an internal or external IC tag reader / writer for wirelessly communicating with an IC tag attached to the subject, and the IC tag reader / writer Subject information is read from the attached IC tag, and photographer information is written to the IC tag attached to the subject.

  Further, the present invention provides a digital photographing method for photographing a subject, wherein the IC tag attached to the subject is photographed by an internal or external IC tag reader / writer for wirelessly communicating with the IC tag attached to the subject. The person information is written.

  The present invention is also directed to a digital photographing method for photographing a subject, from an IC tag attached to the subject by a built-in or external IC tag reader / writer for wirelessly communicating with an IC tag attached to the subject. Information is read out, and photographer information is written in an IC tag attached to the subject.

  The digital photographing apparatus of the present invention includes a digital camera, a mobile phone with a digital photographing function, a portable terminal, a video camera with a digital photographing function, and the like.

  The information related to the subject includes information such as the identification code of the subject, the name, URL information on the Internet where the information related to the subject is stored, and video / audio / text data related to the subject. .

  Further, the photographer information includes information such as the model and model number of the digital photographing device, Internet URL information in which information relating to the digital photographing device is stored, information relating to the photographer (name, gender, age, occupation, telephone number, Address, etc.) and shooting date and time.

  According to the present invention, an IC tag reader / writer that is built-in or attached at the time of photographing a subject writes photographer information on an IC tag attached to the subject by using wireless communication means, so that the subject can be digitally recorded in the past. Since the photographer's information (including name, age, gender, telephone number, address, occupation, etc.) and information such as the shooting date / time can be acquired, what kind of photographer the subject is It is possible to obtain information useful for marketing and customer service, such as when the photo was taken because of popularity, or when it was often taken.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a description will be given of a case where attribute information of a picture is acquired from an IC tag attached to a picture in a museum, and the photographed result is stored in the IC tag attached to the picture. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a picture and a digital photographing apparatus in that case.

  In FIG. 1, a painting 1 is exhibited in a museum, and an IC tag 2 is attached to a part thereof. The IC tag 2 is embedded in a part of the picture 1 frame. Reference numeral 3 denotes a digital photographing apparatus according to the present invention, which has an IC tag reader / writer function 4. That is, the information of the IC tag 2 attached to the painting 1 is acquired by using the IC tag reader / writer function 4 built in or externally attached to the digital photographing device 3, and the information is digitally transferred to the IC tag 2 attached to the painting 1. The shooting record information stored in the shooting device 3 can be stored. The IC tag 2 may be attached by any method, and the attachment position may be anywhere.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the information acquired from the IC tag 2 attached to the painting 1 is described as being stored in Exif format tag information that stores image-related information such as various conditions at the time of shooting. . For the Exif format, the Japan Electronics Industry Association Standard “Digital Still Camera Image File Format Standard (Exchangeable image file format for Digital Still Camera: Exif) Version” (2.1JEIDA-49-1998) It is described in detail in “2.6.Tags”.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the IC tag 2 attached to the painting 1 as a subject. The IC tag 2 includes a signal processing unit 31, a storage unit 32, a communication control unit 33, a transmission unit 34, a reception unit 35, an antenna duplexer 36, and an antenna unit 37. The receiving unit 35 detects the radio signal received by the antenna unit 37 and receives the radio signal transmitted from the IC tag reader / writer function 4. The signal processing unit 31 has a function of processing signals when storing information in the storage unit 32 or transmitting information stored in the storage unit 32.

  As information stored in advance in the storage unit 32, as shown in FIG. 3, “picture number”, “name of painting”, “URL information about painting”, “image image of the era when the painting was created” Information such as “sound of explanation about painting”, “name of creator of painting”, “date and time of painting”, “name of museum exhibiting”, “price of painting”, etc. It is stored together with “Start 1” and “End 1” indicating the end.

  The antenna 37 transmits and receives radio signals to and from the IC tag reader / writer function 4 of the digital photographing device 3. The antenna duplexer 36 is a shared circuit for both transmitting a radio signal from the IC tag 2 to the IC tag reader / writer function 4 and receiving a radio signal from the IC tag reader / writer function 4 to the IC tag 2. The communication control unit 33 modulates a radio signal to be transmitted or modulates a received radio signal. The transmission unit 34 transmits the signal output from the communication control unit 33 as a radio wave signal via the antenna unit 37.

  The storage unit 32 stores information to be transmitted to the IC tag reader / writer function 4 or stores information received from the IC tag reader / writer function 4. When all the information received from the IC tag reader / writer function 4 is stored, the signal processing unit 31 transmits information indicating “reading completion” to the communication control unit 33 as a signal of the completion of information reading.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the digital photographing apparatus 3 in which the IC tag reader / writer function 4 is built in or externally attached. The digital photographing device 3 is mainly divided into a digital photographing function 11 and an IC tag reader / writer function 4. The digital photographing function 11 will be described. First, an input image to the digital photographing device is converted into an electrical signal by the photographing device (CCD) 12, converted into a digital signal by the AD conversion unit 13, and then sent to the signal control unit 14. Entered.

  The main processing executed by the signal control unit 14 includes autofocus, automatic aperture control, luminance and color signal processing, image information compression / decompression, and the like. Image information and image-related information processed by the signal control unit 14 are written in the storage unit 15 such as a storage medium. Further, the signal control unit 14 controls the signal processing unit 21 of the IC tag reader / writer function 4, reads information stored in the storage unit 22 of the IC tag reader / writer function 4, stores the information in the storage unit 15, and stores all information. A function to display the determination result, the read information itself, or a part of the read information on a display unit 16 built in or externally attached to the digital photographing apparatus. Examples of the display unit 16 include a display attached to the digital photographing apparatus and a colored lamp.

  Further, the signal control unit 14 controls the signal processing unit 21 of the IC tag reader / writer function 4 to receive and store “read complete” information transmitted from the IC tag attached to the subject by the IC tag reader / writer function 4. The “read complete” information is read from the unit 22 and the read result is displayed on the display unit 16 built in or externally attached to the digital photographing apparatus.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the shooting record information such as “name of digital shooting device”, “manufacturing number of digital shooting device”, “information about digital shooting device”, “photographer information”, “shooting date and time”, etc. The information is stored in the storage unit 15 of the digital photographing function together with “Start 2” and “End 2” information indicating the start and end of the information.

  4 includes an antenna unit 27, an antenna duplexer 26, a receiving unit 25, a transmitting unit 24, a communication control unit 23, a storage unit 22, and a signal processing unit 21. ing. The antenna unit 27 transmits and receives radio signals to and from the IC tag 2 attached to the painting 1 that is the subject. The antenna sharing unit 26 is a shared circuit for both transmitting a radio signal from the IC tag reader / writer function 4 to the IC tag 2 and receiving a radio signal from the IC tag 2 to the IC tag reader / writer function 4.

  The receiving unit 25 detects a radio signal received from the antenna unit 27 and receives a signal transmitted from the IC tag 2. The transmission unit 24 transmits a radio signal to the IC tag 2 via the antenna unit 27 according to the signal output from the communication control unit 23. The communication control unit 23 demodulates and decodes the signal received from the IC tag 2. The signal processing unit 21 has a function of storing the received information in the storage unit 22 or transmitting the information stored in the storage unit 22.

  The signal processing unit 21 takes out attribute information acquired from the IC tag of the subject recorded in the storage unit 22 and transmits the information to the storage unit 15 of the digital shooting function under the control of the signal control unit 14 of the digital shooting function. have. Further, the signal processing unit 21 takes out the shooting record information recorded in the storage unit 15 of the digital imaging apparatus under the control of the signal control unit 14 of the digital imaging function, and sends the information to the storage unit 22 of the IC tag reader / writer function. Has function.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the attribute information acquired from the IC tag 2 attached to the painting 1 is stored in the tag information in the Exif format together with other image related information.

  Next, the operation procedure of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, a procedure for acquiring information from the IC tag 2 attached to the subject will be described with reference to FIG. First, the digital photographing apparatus 3 according to the present invention is directed to the subject (S100). Next, the IC tag reader / writer function 4 built in or externally attached to the digital photographing device 3 and the IC tag 2 attached to the subject start wireless communication (S101).

  Next, the IC tag reader / writer function 4 built in or externally attached to the digital photographing apparatus 3 starts reading information from the IC tag 2 attached to the subject (S102). The information of the IC tag 2 attached to the subject is included between “Start 1” and “End 1”, and all the information is read from the IC tag 2 attached to the subject by reading “End 1”. Can be determined.

  When it is determined that the signal control unit 14 of the digital photographing device 3 has read all (S103), a display indicating that the reading is completed is displayed on the display unit 16 built in or externally attached to the digital photographing device 3 (S104). . If a certain period of time elapses after reading “Start 1” until “End 1” is read, the process returns to S101 to start wireless communication and tries to read again (when S103 is No).

  Next, the procedure for writing the shooting record information to the IC tag 2 attached to the subject will be described with reference to FIG. First, after reading information from the IC tag 2 attached to the subject is completed, transmission of the photographing performance information stored in the digital photographing device 3 to the IC tag 2 attached to the subject is started (S105). The IC tag 2 attached to the subject starts reading the shooting result information transmitted from the IC tag reader / writer function 4 of the digital shooting device 3 (S106).

  Here, the shooting record information transmitted from the IC tag reader / writer function 4 is included between “Start 2” and “End 2”, and it can be determined that all the information has been read by reading “End 2”. (S107). When the IC tag 2 reads “END 2”, the IC tag 2 determines that the reading is complete, and transmits “read complete” information to the IC tag reader / writer function 4 (S108).

  In addition, after the information is transmitted from the IC tag reader / writer function 4 built in or externally attached to the digital photographing device 3 to the IC tag 2 attached to the subject, the “reading completion” information from the IC tag 2 even after a predetermined time has passed. If it cannot be received, the process returns to S105 again to transmit information to the IC tag 2 (when S107 is No).

  When the digital photographing device 3 acquires the “reading completion” information, the digital photographing device 3 displays on the display unit 16 incorporated in or externally attached to the digital photographing device 3 to indicate that writing has been completed (S109). After this display is made, the photographer takes a picture (S110).

  At the time of shooting, the information read from the IC tag 2 attached to the subject is stored in the Exif format tag information together with other image related information as shown in FIG. 6 (S111). The process is terminated. If there is no need for the photographer to leave a record of shooting in the IC tag 2 assigned to the subject, it is given to the subject as shown in the flow part of FIG. You may image | photograph when the information is read from the IC tag 2 and completed.

  By writing the photographer information in the IC tag 2 of the subject in this way, information on the photographer (name, age, gender, occupation, telephone number, address) Etc.) and information such as the shooting date and time can also be acquired, so it is possible to obtain information useful for marketing and customer service, such as what photographers are popular and taken, what time the subject was shot, etc. It is possible to obtain.

  In the present embodiment, the information acquired from the IC tag 2 attached to the subject has been described as being stored in Exif format tag information that stores image-related information such as various conditions at the time of shooting. The present invention is not limited to this, and may be stored as attached information in the DPOF format or other standards. For the DPOF format, reference materials for DPOF Version 1.3 announced by four DPOF proposals from Canon Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (http://www.panasonic .co.jp / avc / video / dpof / dpof_13 / white.htm).

  Another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. For example, when shopping at a supermarket or the like, when the chair 50, which is a product to which the IC tag 51 is attached, is photographed by the digital photographing device 52 (a mobile phone with a digital camera function in the present embodiment) according to the present invention, The tag 51 and the IC tag reader / writer function 53 communicate with each other using wireless means, and acquire detailed information on the chair 50 that is a product from the IC tag 51. By referring to the acquired information later, it is possible to browse a homepage on the Internet in which detailed information about the product is stored, or to purchase a product that has not yet been purchased online. Further, as described above, communication may be performed between the IC tag 51 and the IC reader / writer function 53, and photographer information may be written to the IC tag 51.

  As an example of use of the present invention, an IC tag is attached to a large number of various products, and images of the products and product information are automatically captured by sequentially photographing the large number of products with the digital photographing apparatus according to the present invention. It is also easy to create an electronic catalog or the like that is associated with each other. In addition, when an IC tag is attached to every place and every thing in society, what happens by taking pictures in various scenes and situations with a mobile terminal with a digital photography function, etc., and referring to the taken information? It becomes possible to know if it was reflected.

  Further, by applying the present invention to a monitoring camera or the like, for example, it is possible to obtain information on a vehicle photographed by a monitoring camera installed in a parking lot, information on a vehicle owner, and the like. Further, by acquiring information from an IC tag attached to personal belongings or the like at the time of photographing a person, it is possible to determine whether or not the person is the person himself / herself.

  Furthermore, when an IC tag is added to a human body in the future, it becomes possible to specify a person shown in video data photographed by the digital photographing apparatus according to the present invention. Since the person's information can be acquired at the same time as photographing the person, it can be applied to ID photos. Further, an ID that is uniquely determined for each individual is assigned to the IC tag, and information on the ID data is stored in the electronic watermark together with the shooting data at the time of shooting, so that the shooting data can be illegally copied, illegally distributed, falsified, or authentic. It can also be used for determination and the like.

It is a figure which shows a mode that information is read from the IC tag provided to the painting in an art museum, and the imaging | photography track record is written in an IC tag. It is a block diagram which shows the basic composition of the IC tag provided to the to-be-photographed object based on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of information stored in the IC tag provided to the painting which is a to-be-photographed object. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital photographing apparatus having an IC tag reader / writer function according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of imaging | photography performance information stored in the digital imaging device. It is a figure which shows a mode that the attribute information acquired from the IC tag provided to the picture was stored with the other image related information in the tag information of Exif format. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which acquires information from the IC tag provided to the to-be-photographed object with the digital imaging device. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which memorize | stores information in the IC tag provided to the to-be-photographed object from the digital imaging device. It is explanatory drawing which shows other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Painting 2 IC tag 3 Digital imaging device 4 IC tag reader / writer function 11 Digital imaging function 12 Imaging device (CCD)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 AD conversion part 14 Signal control part 15 Storage part 16 Display part 21 Signal processing part 22 Storage part 23 Communication control part 24 Transmission part 25 Reception part 26 Duplexer 27 Antenna part 31 Signal processing part 32 Storage part 33 Communication control part 34 Transmission Unit 35 receiving unit 36 duplexer 37 antenna unit 50 chair 51 IC tag 52 portable terminal with digital photographing function 53 IC tag reader / writer function

Claims (6)

In a digital photographing apparatus for photographing a subject, an IC tag reader / writer that is built in or externally attached to wirelessly communicate with an IC tag attached to the subject, and the IC tag attached to the subject by the IC tag reader / writer A digital photographing apparatus characterized by writing photographer information. In a digital photographing apparatus for photographing a subject, an IC tag reader / writer that is built in or externally attached to wirelessly communicate with an IC tag attached to the subject, and from the IC tag attached to the subject by the IC tag reader / writer A digital photographing apparatus characterized by reading out subject information and writing photographer information in an IC tag attached to the subject. 3. The digital photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographer information is a digital photographing apparatus name, information on the digital photographing apparatus, photographer information, or photographing date / time information. The digital photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the IC tag is embedded in a part of a subject. In a digital photographing method for photographing a subject, the photographer information is written to the IC tag attached to the subject by an internal or external IC tag reader / writer for wirelessly communicating with the IC tag attached to the subject. A characteristic digital photography method. In a digital photographing method for photographing a subject, the subject information is read from the IC tag attached to the subject by an internal or external IC tag reader / writer for wirelessly communicating with the IC tag attached to the subject, and A digital photographing method, wherein photographer information is written in an IC tag attached to the subject.