JP2006202139A - Communication apparatus and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus and a method capable of flexibly responding to changes in a video signal system of photographed video data. <P>SOLUTION: The communication apparatus comprises a digital interface and a detection part for detecting a change in the format of video data transmitted from the digital interface. When a detection part detects a change in the format (S303), the digital interface is controlled so as to be disabled (S304). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device that can output video data of different video signal systems.

  A current DVC (digital video camera) is known that conforms to the DV system proposed by the HD Digital VCR Conference. The DV system defines HD (High Definition), SD (Standard Definition), and SDL (Standard Definition Long).

  In the DV system, two types of video signal systems are defined. One is the NTSC (National Television System Committee) system, and the other is the PAL (Phase Alternation by Line) system. The NTSC system is a video signal system having 525 horizontal scanning lines and a frame rate of 30 frames / second. The PAL method is a video signal method in which the number of scanning lines in the horizontal direction is 625 and the frame rate is 25 frames / second. According to the DV system, NTSC video data and PAL video data can be recorded on the same magnetic tape.

In addition, the current DVC can be connected to a serial bus compliant with the IEEE 1394 standards (see IEEE Std 1394-1995, IEEE Std 1394a-2000, etc.), and AV / C TapeRecorder / Player Subunit defined by the 1394 Trade Association. (For example, see Non-Patent Document 1 (see TA Document 2001017, AV / C TapeRecorder / Player Subunit Specification 2.2, December 11, 2001, 1394 Trade Association)). In such a DVC, control from a PC (personal computer) and confirmation of the state on the PC are possible.
TA Document 2001017, AV / C TapeRecorder / Player Subunit Specification 2.2, December 11, 2001, 1394 TradeAssociation

  However, there are several problems with the above-described prior art. For example, there is a problem that the PC cannot appropriately cope with the change in the video signal system of the video data output from the DVC.

  The PC needs to select an NTSC decoder when inputting NTSC video data output from the DVC, and a PAL decoder when inputting PAL video data output from the DVC. It is necessary to select. However, if the PC selects the NTSC decoder and the PAL video data is output from the DVC, the PC uses the NTSC decoder to decode the PAL video data. Therefore, there is a possibility that problems such as failure to display normally occur. Similar problems may occur when NTSC video data is output from DVC while a PAL decoder is selected.

  The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. For example, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method that can flexibly cope with a change in video signal system of photographed video data or reproduced video data.

In order to achieve the above object, an imaging apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,
A digital interface,
Detecting means for detecting a change in format of video data transmitted from the digital interface;
When the format change is detected by the detection means, the digital interface is controlled so that the digital interface is in an unestablished state.

  According to the communication apparatus of the present invention, even when the output video signal system on the transmission side is changed, it is possible for the reception side to select a decoder that can be flexibly adapted and to display it normally on the reception side.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a video processing system in the first embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, 101 is a DVC (digital video camera) which is an example of a video processing apparatus, 102 is an IEEE 1394 serial bus which is a serial bus compliant with the IEEE 1394 standard, and 103 is a PC (personal computer) which is an example of a control apparatus. . The DVC 101 in this embodiment can encode NTSC or PAL video data according to the DV system and record the encoded video data on a recording medium. The DVC 101 can record the encoded video data on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape.

  Reference numeral 104 denotes a user interface for operating a photographing function, a recording function, a reproducing function of the DVC 101, a menu screen displayed on the display unit of the DVC 101, and the like. In the present embodiment, the user interface 104 is used to change the video signal system of video captured by the DVC 101. Reference numeral 105 denotes an imaging unit that captures an image using an image sensor such as a CCD or CMOS sensor and generates image data of the captured image. When the video signal system set in the DVC 101 is the NTSC system, the imaging unit 105 generates NTSC video data. When the video signal system set in the DVC 101 is the PAL system, the imaging unit 105 generates PAL system video data.

  Reference numeral 106 denotes a DV controller which is application software for remotely controlling the DVC 101, 107 denotes an NTSC decoder which is a decoding program for the NTSC system, and 108 denotes a PAL decoder which is a decoding program for the PAL system. The NTSC decoder 107 can process NTSC video data, and the PAL decoder 108 can process PAL video data. Reference numeral 109 denotes a display of the PC 103. It is assumed that the DV controller 106, the NTSC decoder 107, and the PAL decoder 108 are installed in the PC 103 in advance. The PC 103 remotely controls the DVC 101 using the DV controller 106 and displays the NTSC video data or the PAL video data output from the DVC 101 on the display 109 using the NTSC decoder 107 and the PAL decoder 108. The DVC 101 is compliant with the AV / C Tape Recorder / Player Subunit.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating some of the components of the DVC 101. A control unit 201 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory that stores a program that can be executed by the CPU (including a program for controlling the DVC 101 and a program for processing a control command from the PC 103). . Data indicating the video signal system set in the DVC 101 is stored in the memory in the control unit 201. This data is changed by the control unit 201 in accordance with an instruction from the user.

  Reference numeral 202 denotes an NTSC video processing unit that encodes NTSC video data supplied from the control unit 201 in accordance with the DV system. A PAL video processing unit 203 encodes the PAL video data supplied from the control unit 201 according to the DV system. An IEEE 1394 interface 204 is a digital interface compliant with the IEEE 1394 standard. The IEEE 1394 interface 204 packetizes the video data supplied from the NTSC video processing unit 202 or the PAL video processing unit 203 into an isochronous packet and outputs the packet. At this time, the isochronous packet generated by the IEEE 1394 interface 204 conforms to IEC 61883-1, IEC 61883-2, and the like. In the present embodiment, the DVC 101 connected to the PC 103 via the IEEE 1394 serial bus 102 as shown in FIG. 1 outputs the video data input from the imaging unit 105 from the IEEE 1394 terminal as isochronous data.

  In the first embodiment, the processing flow of the DVC 101 and the PC 103 when the DVC 101 outputs video data input from the imaging unit 105 to the PC 103 and the video signal system is changed in the middle will be described. FIG. 3A is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the DVC 101. FIG. 3B is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the PC 103. Note that the processing executed by the DVC 101 is controlled by the control unit 201, and the processing executed by the PC 103 is controlled by the DV controller 106.

  First, the operation of the PC 103 will be described with reference to FIG. 3B. When the electrical connection of the IEEE 1394 interface is established, the PC 103 collects device information related to the connected device (not shown). When the DVC 101 is connected to the PC 103, the PC 103 uses the OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE status command defined in the AV / C Tape Recorder / Player Subunit standard as shown in FIG. The video signal system is inquired and acquired (steps S321 and S322). Then, the PC 103 selects a decoder (NTSC decoder 107 or PAL decoder 108) adapted to the acquired output video signal system, and loads a driver (step S323).

  Thereafter, the PC 103 monitors whether or not the connection state with the DVC 101 is in the non-established state, and if it is in the non-established state, the driver loaded in step S323 is unloaded (steps S324 and S325). Then, returning to step S321, the PC 103 waits for the connection between the PC 103 and the DVC 101 to be established. When the established state is established, the PC 103 executes steps S322 and S323, selects a newly adapted decoder, and loads a driver.

  Next, the operation of the DVC 101 will be described with reference to FIG. 3A. In the DVC 101, after the power is turned on, a connection state of the IEEE 1394 interface 904 is established with the PC 103. When there is an inquiry about the output video signal system (step S322) from the PC 103, the DVC 101 returns a preset default output video signal system (steps S301 and S302). In this embodiment, the NTSC system is notified as the default of the output video signal system.

  In this embodiment, the video signal system of video data output from the DVC 101 can be switched by a command input by the user from the user interface 104 such as a menu screen, and the control unit 201 selects the NTSC system. In this case, the video data input from the imaging unit 105 is transferred to the NTSC video processing unit 202. On the other hand, when the PAL method is selected, the control unit 201 passes the video data input from the imaging unit 105 to the PAL video processing unit 203. If the user changes the video signal system from the NTSC system to the PAL system on the menu screen or the like, the control unit 201 detects that in step S303. When the conversion of the video signal system is detected, the process proceeds from step S303 to step S304, and the TPA and TPA * bias of the IEEE 1394 interface 204 are turned off.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which the TPA 501 and TPA * 502 of the IEEE 1394 interface 204 included in the DVC 101 of the present embodiment are connected to the TPB 511 and TPB * 512 of the IEEE 1394 interface included in the PC 103. In the IEEE 1394 standard, when a bias is applied to TPA 501 and TPA * 502, the bias is detected by the comparator 513 connected to the TPB 511 and TPB * 512 on the PC 103 side, and the connection of the device is detected. Therefore, if the device conforms to the IEEE 1394 standard, the DVC 101 is not connected, or is suspended, disconnected, by turning off the bias of the TPA 501 and TPA * 502, that is, by setting the input voltage to the terminal 503 to 0V. Able state, that is, connection is not established. As a result, the PC 103 recognizes that the connection with the DVC 101 via the IEEE 1394 interface has been disconnected, and unloads the loaded driver (steps S324 and S325). In this way, when the DVC 101 turns off the bias applied to the TPA 501 and TPA * 502, the PC 103 knows that the DVC 101 has been disconnected from the PC 103 and unloads the loaded driver.

  The description returns to FIG. 3A. In the DVC 101, in step S 305, a bias is applied again to the TPA 501 and TPA * 502 of the IEEE 1394 interface 504, that is, a specified voltage is input from the terminal 503. In other words, the connection between the DVC 101 and the PC 103 is reestablished, so that the PC 103 can know that the DVC 101 is connected from the PC 103. It is assumed that the time for which the connection is not established in steps S504 and S505 is secured for the time required for completing the driver unloading by the PC 103. After recognizing that the DVC 101 is electrically connected, the PC 103 makes an inquiry about the output video signal system to the DVC 101 (steps S321 and S322). For example, an OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE status command as shown in FIG.

  In the DVC 101, the process proceeds to step S306, and an inquiry about the output video signal system is awaited. When there is an inquiry about the output video signal system from the PC 103 as described above, the PC 103 is notified of the output video signal system in step S307. In this way, in step S307, the DVC 101 notifies the PC 103 of the output video signal system of the video data input from the imaging unit 105. Thereby, the PC 103 can select the PAL decoder 108 and load the driver in order to capture the PAL video data (step S323).

  In this embodiment, the OUTPUTSIGNAL MODE status command is used as an example of a command for inquiring about the output video signal system, but this is not restrictive. Further, in this embodiment, the connection between the DVC 101 and the PC 103 is set to the non-established state or the established state by controlling the bias applied to the TPA 501 and the TPA * 502, but may be controlled by other methods. For example, it may be possible to shift to a non-established state by switching the signal line to a high impedance state using a switching transistor.

  In this embodiment, the image data input source from the IEEE 1394 interface 204 is the image capturing unit 105. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a recording medium (for example, a magnetic tape) mounted on the DVC 101 may be used as the input source. In this case, the control unit 201 determines the video signal system of the video data using the attached data reproduced together with the video data, and supplies the video data to the NTSC video processing unit 202 or the PAL video processing unit 203. What is necessary is just to comprise. When the control unit 201 detects that the video signal system of the playback video data has changed from the NTSC system to the PAL system or from the PAL system to the NTSC system, the control unit 201 controls the bias applied to the TPA 501 and TPA * 502. Then, the connection between the DVC 101 and the PC 103 is brought into a non-established state. Then, after a predetermined time has elapsed, the control unit 201 establishes the connection between the DVC 101 and the PC 103 again.

  As described above, according to the DVC 101 in the first embodiment, when a change in the video signal system of the output video data is detected, the bias applied to the TPA 501 and the TPA * 502 is turned off for a predetermined time, and the DVC 101 and the PC 103 Release the connection temporarily. Thereby, the processing of the video data by the PC 103 is initialized, and a decoder suitable for the changed video signal system can be selected and the driver can be loaded on the PC 103. Therefore, the PC 103 can automatically cope with the changed video signal system.

Second Embodiment
In the first embodiment, the case where the video signal system set in the DVC 101 is performed via the user interface 104 of the DVC 101 itself has been described, but the video signal system set in the DVC 101 is performed by an instruction from the PC 103 Is also possible. The video signal system set in the DVC 101 can be changed using, for example, an OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE control command (see FIG. 6) defined by the AV / C Tape Recorder / Player Subunit standard. That is, when it is desired to change the video signal system of the DVC 101, the PC 103 transmits an OUTPUTSIGNAL MODE control command to the DVC 101. Upon receiving the OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE control command from the PC 103, the DVC 101 changes the video signal system set in the DVC 101 to the video signal system (NTSC or PAL) specified by the command.

  When the video signal system of the DVC 101 is changed to the NTSC system or the PAL system using the OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE control command, the PC 103 may select and load a driver corresponding to the video signal system set in the DVC 101 by the PC 103 itself. Therefore, in the second embodiment, setting the video signal system of the video data output from the DVC 101 via the user interface of the PC 103 is also regarded as a time when the output video signal system has changed.

  The processing procedure of the DVC 101 in the second embodiment is almost the same as the flowchart (FIG. 3A) described in the first embodiment, and the processing in step S303 is different. In the present embodiment, only differences from the first embodiment will be described.

  In step S303, when the output video signal system is changed by the OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE control command from the PC 103, the PC 103 itself can recognize the change in the output video signal system as described above. In this case, since the PC 103 can select an appropriate decoder, the DVC 101 skips to step S301 without executing the processing from step S304 to S307. The PC 103 instructs the DVC 101 to change the output video signal system by the OUTPUTSIGNAL MODE control command, and then executes the acquisition of the output video signal system by the status command (the same processing as S322).

  With the above operation, the PC 103 can select a decoder adapted to the changed video signal system by the OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE control command.

  As described above, according to each of the above embodiments, the decoder of the PC 103 can be appropriately switched according to a change in the video signal system of video data output from the DVC 101 (for example, a change between NTSC and PAL). It becomes possible.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the video processing system which concerns on 1st thru | or 2nd embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital video camera which concerns on 1st thru | or 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the process sequence of the digital video camera which concerns on 1st thru | or 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the process sequence of the personal computer which concerns on 1st thru | or 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which shows OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE status command. It is a figure which shows the electrical connection of an IEEE1394 interface. It is a figure which shows OUTPUT SIGNAL MODE control command.

Explanation of symbols

101 DVC
102 IEEE 1394 cable 103 PC
104 User Interface 105 Imaging Unit 106 DV Controller 107 NTSC Decoder 108 PAL Decoder 109 Display 201 Control Unit 202 NTSC Video Processing Unit 203 PAL Video Processing Unit 204 IEEE 1394 Interface

Claims (16)

A digital interface,
Detecting means for detecting a change in format of video data transmitted from the digital interface;
A communication apparatus that controls the digital interface so that the digital interface is in an unestablished state when a change in format is detected by the detection means. The digital interface is a digital interface conforming to the IEEE 1394 standard,
The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus switches a connection establishment state and a non-establishment state of the interface by controlling a bias of TPA and TPA * included in the digital interface.   The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the video data is input from an imaging unit included in the communication apparatus.   The communication device according to claim 3, wherein the detection unit detects a change in a format of video data transmitted based on settings from a user interface of the communication device with respect to photographing data.   4. The communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the detection unit detects a change in format of video data to be transmitted based on a setting by a control command from a control apparatus connected to the digital interface.   The communication device according to claim 3, wherein the detection unit determines whether the format is an NTSC system or a PAL system.   The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects a change in a format of video data transmitted based on information indicating a format included in the video data.   9. The communication apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the detection unit determines whether the format of video data reproduced from a recording medium is an NTSC system or a PAL system. A method for controlling a communication device having a digital interface,
A detection step of detecting a change in the format of video data transmitted from the digital interface;
And a control step of controlling the digital interface so that the digital interface is in an unestablished state when a format change is detected by the detection step. The digital interface is a digital interface conforming to the IEEE 1394 standard,
10. The control method according to claim 9, wherein the control step switches a connection established state and a non-established state of the interface by controlling a bias of TPA and TPA * included in the digital interface.   The control method according to claim 9, wherein the video data is input from an imaging unit included in the communication device.   The control method according to claim 10, wherein the detecting step detects a change in a format of video data transmitted based on a setting in a user interface included in the communication device.   The control method according to claim 10, wherein the detecting step detects a change in a format of video data to be transmitted based on a setting by a control command from a control device connected to the digital interface.   The control method according to claim 10, wherein the detection step determines whether the format is an NTSC system or a PAL system.   11. The control method according to claim 10, wherein the detecting step detects a change in format of video data transmitted based on information indicating a format included in the video data.   The control method according to claim 15, wherein the detection step determines whether the format of the video data reproduced from the recording medium is an NTSC system or a PAL system.

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