JP2006279764A - Image reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To retrieve and reproduce a past image with a photographing timing (period of time, month, season or the like) and a photographing site corresponding to a present timing or location. <P>SOLUTION: A digital camera 100 stores a photographed image into a storage section 28 together with information about a photographing timing and a photographing site thereof. When a history button on an operating section 23 is depressed, a present date/location is discriminated from a timer section 30 and a GPS 26. On the basis of the discriminated present date and the information of the photographing timing added to the image, a CPU 21 retrieves/extracts an image photographed in a corresponding timing in the past regardless of a photographing year. Furthermore, based on the discriminated present location and the information of the photographing site added to the image, the CPU retrieves/extracts an image photographed in a corresponding location in the past. If there are a plurality of extracted images, the images are sequentially switched and a slide show indication or thumbnail indication thereof is performed on a display section 27. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention has been taken in the past at the same shooting attributes as the current time, for example, images shot at the same shooting time as the current time (for example, season, month, period, day) or the same shooting location as the shooting position. The present invention relates to an image reproducing apparatus having a function of automatically specifying and reproducing an image.

  A conventional digital camera has a function of extracting and displaying a desired image from a large number of images captured and stored. When an image is extracted using a conventional extraction function, the image to be extracted is generally specified by the shooting period. For example, if a certain arbitrary range is specified, such as a period from A year B month C to D year E month F, an image taken within that period is retrieved and extracted from the time stamp and displayed. .

  On the other hand, there are many times when the images taken in the past are viewed, such as New Years, athletic meet season, Golden Week, Bon Festival, and anniversary.

  In such a case, there are many requests to see past images at the same time. For example, if it is the New Year, there is a desire to see past New Year images last year, the year before last. Similarly, if today is a specific anniversary (birthday, wedding anniversary, etc.), you may want to know what happened on that specific anniversary in the past by looking at images taken at that time in the past. is there.

  However, in the current digital camera, as described above, the user himself / herself has only a function of specifying a period to be extracted and extracting an image taken within that period. The user has to specify the time range for each year and extract an image, and the time specification and the image search are complicated.

  In addition, as an image extracting function, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an image reproducing apparatus having a function of determining a display order from an image title. However, in the image reproduction device disclosed in Patent Document 1, in order to extract images taken at the same time in the past, the user himself / herself has to specify the period, and the above problem is solved. Can not.

  In addition, there are cases where it is desired to view images taken at the same travel destination at a specific travel destination the previous time, the last time, etc., but conventionally, it has not been possible to search for an image specifying the shooting location.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an image reproduction apparatus and an image reproduction method for searching for information related to a shooting location of an image and displaying the information together with a captured image. However, this technique is inconvenient because all the images are viewed and the user himself / herself selects an image taken at the same location from the displayed information.

The same problem exists not only in digital cameras but also in devices that have a function of reproducing past captured images, and it is easier to extract desired images with current attributes (time, place, etc.) with an image reproducing device. It is desirable to be able to do that.
JP-A-11-344771 JP 2001-92835 A

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an image reproduction device having a function of automatically searching for past images having attributes corresponding to the current shooting attributes with a simple operation. Objective.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image playback apparatus having a function of automatically searching for past images taken at the same time as the present time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image reproducing apparatus having a function of automatically searching and extracting past images taken at a position corresponding to the current position.

In order to achieve the above object, an image reproduction apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention provides:
An image playback device for playing back and displaying a plurality of captured images,
Image storage means for storing a plurality of image data to which attribute information indicating photographing attributes is added;
Current attribute storage means for storing current attribute information indicating a current photographing attribute;
Based on current attribute information stored in the current attribute storage means and attribute information added to image data stored in the image storage means, in the past having a shooting attribute corresponding to the current shooting attribute A search means for searching the acquired image data;
Display means for displaying past images searched,
It is characterized by providing.

  The image reproduction apparatus may further include an imaging unit and means for adding the current attribute information stored in the current attribute storage unit to the image captured by the imaging unit and storing the information in the image storage unit. .

  For example, the attribute information includes time information indicating the photographing time. In this case, the current attribute storage means includes current time storage means for storing current time information indicating the current time, and the search means includes the current time information stored in the current time storage means and the image. Based on the time information added to the image data stored in the storage means, image data having a photographing time taken before the previous year and at the same time as the current time is retrieved and extracted.

The current time storage means is, for example,
A time measuring means for measuring at least the current date;
Storage means for storing information indicating the date and time of the time measuring means;
Consists of

For example, the current time information includes information specifying at least one of the current month, a period including the current month and day, and the current season,
The retrieval means retrieves and extracts image data to which the photographing time is added before the previous year and to which the time information indicating the photographing time included in the month, period, or season specified by the current time information is added.

For example, the attribute information includes position information indicating a shooting location,
The current attribute storage means includes current position storage means for storing current position information indicating a predetermined range including the current position,
The search means is within a predetermined range indicated by the current position information based on the current position information stored in the current position storage means and the position information added to the image data stored in the image storage means. The image data of the image taken at the position is searched and extracted.

The current position storage means, for example, a position measurement means for measuring the current position;
And storage means for storing current position information based on the position measured by the position measuring means.

The current position information includes, for example, information for identifying at least one of current latitude / longitude, nearest station, administrative division,
The search means searches for and extracts image data to which position information indicating a shooting location within the range indicated by the current position information is added.

  The display means includes, for example, means for displaying the images extracted by the search means while sequentially switching, or means for creating and displaying thumbnail images of the extracted images.

A computer program according to the present invention provides a computer,
A function of storing current attribute information indicating the current shooting attribute;
Based on the stored current attribute information, search a plurality of image data to which attribute information indicating the shooting attribute is added, and search for image data shot in the past having a shooting attribute corresponding to the current shooting attribute. Function to
Is realized.

  According to the present invention, an image shot in the past having an attribute corresponding to the current shooting attribute (for example, current date and time, current position) is automatically retrieved and displayed. Therefore, for example, past images taken at the same time and position as the current time can be easily viewed without performing a complicated extraction range designation operation.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, a digital camera 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration of the digital camera 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the digital camera 100 includes a shutter button 11, an optical system 12, a control button 14, a history button 15, a liquid crystal monitor 16, a stop button 17, a microphone 18, and the like.

  The circuit configuration of the digital camera 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The digital camera 100 includes a CPU 21, an imaging unit 22, an operation unit 23, a RAM 24, an audio processing unit 25, a GPS 26, a display unit 27, a storage unit 28, a recording medium 29, a time measuring unit 30, an audio reproducing unit 31, a communication unit 32, and the like. Composed. These are connected to each other by a bus 33.

  A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21 controls each part of the digital camera 100.

  The imaging unit 22 includes an imaging element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and the optical system 12 described above, and captures an arbitrary image and generates image data.

  The operation unit 23 includes the shutter button 11, the control button 14, the history button 15, the stop button 17, and the like, and inputs various information when operated by the user.

  A RAM (Random Access Memory) 24 is used as a work memory for the CPU 21.

  The sound processing unit 25 includes the microphone 18 described above, and inputs sound from the microphone 18 at the time of imaging and converts it into a digital sound file.

  A GPS (Global Positioning System) 26 acquires position information indicating the latitude and longitude of the shooting position.

  The display unit 27 includes the liquid crystal monitor 16 described above, and displays captured images and reproduced images.

  The storage unit 28 includes a nonvolatile memory, for example, a flash memory. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the storage unit 28 stores image data of an image captured by the imaging unit 22, audio data acquired by the audio processing unit 25, and attribute information of the image in association with each other. The attribute information includes, for example, the current time acquired by the timekeeping unit 30, information on the current position acquired by the GPS 26, and the like. Instead of the image data and the sound data, an address of the storage position of the image data and the sound data may be stored.

  The storage unit 28 stores various setting information and flags. For example, the storage unit 28 stores an “automatic selection flag” and an “automatic period selection flag” for specifying a method for automatically searching for an image when “automatic selection” is designated in a history mode to be described later. To do. The automatic selection flag is a flag for designating whether to perform an image search based on the shooting time or an image search based on the shooting location. As shown in FIG. An image search based on the shooting position is designated with “1” as shown in FIG. 4B.

  In addition, the “automatic period selection flag” is a flag for specifying a criterion based on which a past captured image is selected when the automatic selection flag is set to “0”. A period mode for performing an image search based on whether or not the shooting time belongs to a specific period is designated, and “2” is used to search for an image based on whether or not the shooting time is the same “month” as the current time. “Month” mode to be performed is designated, and “3” is designated to be “season” mode for performing image search based on whether or not the photographing time is the same “season” as the current time.

  In addition, when “period mode” is designated, the storage unit 28 previously stores “return days” and “advance days” used to determine the period.

  The recording medium 29 is composed of, for example, a flash memory, is detachably mounted on the digital camera 100 main body, and stores image data and their attribute information in the same manner as the storage unit 28.

  The time measuring unit 30 includes a timer circuit and measures the current time (year / month / day / hour / minute / second). In addition, the time measuring unit 30 measures various times in response to instructions from the CPU 21. For example, the time during which an image is displayed on the display unit 27 is measured, and the CPU 21 is notified when the predetermined time is reached.

  The audio reproduction unit 31 reproduces audio data stored in the storage unit 28 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 21 when reproducing an image.

  The communication unit 32 communicates with an external device.

  Next, the operation of the digital camera 100 having the above configuration will be described.

First, the imaging operation will be described with reference to FIG.
In the shooting mode, when the user points the optical system 12 at an arbitrary subject and presses the shutter button 11, an imaging instruction signal is supplied from the operation unit 23 to the CPU 21. In response to this instruction signal, the CPU 21 starts the process of FIG. 5 and first instructs the imaging unit 22 to perform imaging (step S11). The imaging unit 22 performs an imaging process to acquire image data.

Further, the CPU 21 instructs the audio processing unit 25 to acquire audio data (step S12). In accordance with the instruction, the audio processing unit 25 acquires peripheral audio via the microphone 18 for a predetermined period (for example, 5 seconds), and generates audio data.
Further, the CPU 21 acquires time information of the current year / month / day / hour / minute / second from the time measuring unit 30 (step S13).
Further, the CPU 21 acquires the latitude / longitude of the current location from the GPS 26 (step S14).

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 21 performs image data generated by the imaging unit 22, audio data generated by the audio processing unit 25, time information acquired from the time measuring unit 30, position information acquired from the GPS, FIG. 3. And stored in the storage unit 28 in association with each other (step S15).
In the photographing mode, the above operation is repeated.

  Next, an operation for reproducing and displaying an image photographed by the digital camera 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The digital camera 100 has a history search / playback function for searching for and playing back a stored image together with a general playback / playback function using a shooting attribute such as a shooting time or a shooting position as a key.
Details of the history search / playback function will be described below.

When performing history search reproduction processing, the user presses the history button 15 in the reproduction mode.
In response to pressing of the history button 15, the CPU 21 starts the process shown in FIG.

First, the CPU 21 causes the user to specify the type of search (step S21).
In this case, for example, the CPU 21 causes the display unit 27 to display a screen for selecting four time types shown in FIG. The user operates the operation unit 23 to select a desired time mode.

  For example, when extracting a past image shot in a predetermined period including the same “month and day” as the current time, the user designates the “period” mode (flag “1”) and the same “current” When extracting past images taken in the "month", specify the "month" mode (flag "2"), and when extracting past images taken in the same "season" as the present , “Season” mode (flag “3”) is designated. If it is not desired to make troublesome settings, the “automatic” mode (flag “4”) is designated. The CPU 21 stores a time mode flag corresponding to the mode designated by the user in the RAM 24.

  Next, the CPU 21 acquires current time information from the time measuring unit 30 and acquires current position information from the GPS 26 (step S22).

  Next, the CPU 21 determines whether or not the “automatic” mode is selected in step S21 (step S23). When the “automatic” mode is not selected, that is, when any one of the “period” mode, the “month” mode, and the “season” mode is selected (step S23: No), the designated photographing time mode is determined. Then, image search conditions are set (step 24).

  In the image search condition setting process in step S24, as shown in detail in FIG. 7, the value of the photographing time mode flag set in step S21 is “1”, “2”, or “3”. Is discriminated (step S31). When the shooting time mode flag = “1”, that is, when the “period” mode is designated (step S31: “1”), first, “start month / day” = “ Calculate “current date” − “return days”. That is, the month and date before the current “month and date” is set as the start of the period by the number of days returned (step S32). The “return days” is set in the storage unit 28 in advance.

  Subsequently, in order to determine the end of the period, “end month and day” = “current month and day” + “number of days advanced” is calculated. That is, the month and date ahead of the current “month and date” is set as the end of the period (step S33). The “advance days” is set in the storage unit 28 in advance.

Subsequently, the search condition is set to an image whose shooting date is between the start date and end date (step S34).
For example, if today is March 15 and the number of days returned is set to the number of days advanced = 7, the start date is March 8 and the end date is March 22, which depends on the shooting year. First, an image whose shooting date is from March 8 to March 22 is a search target.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S31 that the time mode flag = “2”, the current month is extracted from “current date” (step S35), and the search condition is the same as the current month. The image is set (step S36). For example, when the current month is March, an image whose shooting month is March is a search target regardless of the shooting year.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S31 that the time mode flag = “3”, the month is extracted from “current date”, the season to which the current month belongs is determined (step S37), and the search condition is The month corresponds to the determined season (step S38). For example, if this month is March, the season is “Spring”, so regardless of the shooting year, images taken in the month of March, April, or May corresponding to spring will be searched. And

  As described above, when the search condition is set in step S24, each image stored in the storage unit 28 and the recording medium 29 is searched in step S25, and an image that matches the search condition is extracted.

  In this image search and extraction process, as shown in detail in FIG. 8, the CPU 21 generates the reproduction list shown in FIG. 9 on the RAM 24 and sets all entries as empty entries (step S41). The reproduction list is a list that stores audio data corresponding to image data extracted by searching in the order of extraction.

  Next, “1” is set to the image number i (step S42). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the image number i is equal to or less than the total number of images stored in the storage unit 28 and the recording medium 29 (step S43). When the image number i is equal to or less than the total number of images (step S43: Yes), the shooting date of the i-th image among the images stored in the storage unit 28 and the recording medium 29 is set to step S24 (steps S34, S36, It is determined whether or not the search condition set in S38) is met (step S44).

  That is, if “start month / day” ≦ shooting month / day ≦ “end month / day” is designated as the search condition in step S34, the shooting month / day of the i-th image is the start month / day and end of “period”. Determine whether the date is between the date. Therefore, for example, if the start date is set to March 8 and the end date is set to March 22, for example, if the shooting date of the i-th image is March 10 or March 18. Although it is extracted regardless of the shooting year and shooting time, it is not extracted if the shooting date is March 9 or April.

In step S36, if “shooting month = current month” is set as the search condition, it is determined whether or not the shooting month of the i-th image is the same as the current month. Therefore, for example, if this month is March, if the shooting date of the i-th image is March, it is extracted regardless of the shooting year and shooting date, but the shooting date is April or October. If there is, it is not extracted.
In step S38, if “photographing month = month corresponding to current season” is set as a search condition, it is determined whether or not the season corresponding to the photographing month of the i-th image is the same as the current season. Determine. For example, if this month is March, the season of this month is “spring”, and if the shooting month of the i-th image is March, April, or May, the shooting year or shooting date / time is set. Regardless, it is extracted, but not in other months.

  If it is determined in step S44 that the shooting date matches the search condition (step S44; Yes), the i-th image and corresponding audio data are stored in the first entry among the empty entries in the reproduction list (step S44). S45). After storage, the image number i is incremented by 1 (step S46), and the process returns to step S43.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S44 that the shooting “month / day” of the i-th image does not match the search condition (step S44; No), the process jumps to step S46, and the image data is not stored in the reproduction list. Then, after the image number i is incremented by 1 (step S46), the process returns to step S43.

  When the search processing is completed for all the images and the image number i is equal to or greater than the total number of images, it is determined No in step S43, and the process proceeds to slide reproduction display processing (step S26) for displaying the extracted images as a slide.

  In the slide reproduction display process in step S26, as shown in FIG. 10, first, the reproduction list is checked to determine whether or not the extracted data exists (step S51). S51; No), a process is complete | finished.

On the other hand, if the extracted data exists (step S51; Yes), the pointer j for specifying the reproduction target data is set to 1 (step S52).
The image data stored in the jth entry of the reproduction list is given to the display unit 27 and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 16, and the corresponding audio data is given to the audio reproduction unit 31 to start sound emission (step S53). ).

  Furthermore, CPU21 starts the timer in the time measuring part 30 (step S54).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the cancel button 17 has been pressed (step S55). If it has not been pressed (step S55; No), the count time of the timer reaches a predetermined time, that is, the playback time of one image. It is determined whether or not (step S56). If it is determined in step S56 that the predetermined time has not been reached (step S56; No), the process returns to step S55 to continue image display and sound emission.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S55 that the cancel button 17 has been pressed (step S55; Yes) or if it is determined in step S56 that the count time of the timer has reached a predetermined time (step S56: Yes), It is determined whether or not j = the number of images (the total number of images extracted in step S25) (step S57). If j = the number of images (step S57; Yes), the reproduction of all the extracted images is completed. Therefore, the process is terminated, and if j ≠ number of images (step S57; No), j is incremented by 1 (step S58), and the process returns to step S53 to display the next image.

  In this manner, when any one of the “period”, “month”, and “season” modes is selected in step S21, the image is based on the current date and the shooting date of the image data. Is retrieved and extracted and displayed as a slide.

  On the other hand, if the “automatic” mode is selected in step S21, “Yes” is determined in step S23, the flow proceeds to step S27, and the automatic selection flag set in the storage unit 28 is “0”. It is determined whether it is “1”. As described above with reference to FIG. 4A, if the automatic selection flag is “0”, the “time” mode for performing image search based on the shooting time is set (step S27; period).

  In this case, the flow proceeds to step S28, where it is determined whether the automatic time selection flag set in the storage unit 28 is “1”, “2”, or “3”, and the extraction target time is selected. (Step S28). That is, as described above with reference to FIG. 4B, the automatic time selection flag is “1” for “period”, “2” for “month”, and “3” for “season”. Select as the "time".

  Subsequently, a search condition is set based on the selected “time” and the current date (step S29). That is, if the automatic time selection flag is “1”, search conditions similar to those in step S34 in FIG. 7 are set. If “2”, search conditions similar to those in step S36 in FIG. If “3”, the same search condition as in step S38 in FIG. 7 is set.

  Subsequently, the process proceeds to an image search process in step S25, and images are searched and extracted, and slide display is performed (steps S25 and S26).

  In this way, when “automatic” is selected in step S21 and “time mode” is set in advance, the time setting according to the setting of the “automatic time selection flag” set in advance is made. ("Period including the current month", "the same month as the current month", "season corresponding to the current month"), the image corresponding to the time when the shooting time was set is extracted, Slide is displayed.

On the other hand, if the “automatic” mode is selected in step S21, Yes is determined in step S23, and if it is determined in step S27 that the automatic selection flag is “1”, refer to FIG. As described above, the “position” mode for performing the image search based on the photographing position is set (step S27; position).
In this case, the flow proceeds to step S121.

In the extraction target shooting position range specifying process in step S121, the range of the shooting position of the extraction target image is specified. It is rare that the current position and the shooting position are exactly the same, and a certain range is specified.
In this example, as shown in FIG. 11, first, (current latitude Y-30 ′ (minutes)) is set to the minimum latitude Y1, (current latitude Y + 30 ′) to the maximum latitude Y2, and (current longitude X) to the minimum longitude X1. -30 ′), (current longitude X + 30 ′) is stored in the maximum longitude X2 (step S121). In other words, each rectangular range of 1 ° centering on the current position (X, Y) is specified as the imaging position to be extracted.
However, the range, setting method, and numerical values are arbitrary. The latitude and longitude may be converted into a distance from the current location, and a range having a radius of 5 km with the current location as the center may be extracted.

  Subsequently, a process of searching and extracting an image in which the latitude of the photographing position is between the minimum latitude X1 and the maximum latitude X2 and the longitude of the photographing position is between the minimum longitude Y1 and the maximum longitude Y2 is performed. Note that. The search process itself is substantially the same as the process shown in FIG. However, in step S44, it is determined whether or not the latitude / longitude of the shooting position of the i-th image is within the range of latitude and longitude set in step S121.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not at least one image is stored in the reproduction list (step S122). If no image is stored in the reproduction list, that is, if there is no image taken at substantially the same position as the current position (step S123: No), the process proceeds to step S28, and an image search based on the time is performed.

  On the other hand, if image data is stored in the reproduction list (step S123: Yes), it connects to the Internet via the communication unit 32, and acquires regional information (news, event information, product information, etc.) of the region ( Step S124).

  Furthermore, a thumbnail of each image is generated from each image data registered in the reproduction list, and a list of a predetermined number of thumbnails and area information acquired from the Internet are displayed side by side (step S125). When the display is finished, the current image search / playback process is finished, and the process returns to the main routine.

  In this way, if “automatic” is selected in step S21 and “position mode” is set in advance, an image whose shooting position is close to the current location is extracted and displayed as a thumbnail. Since the area information acquired from the Internet is added to the thumbnail display, it is possible to simultaneously know information such as events held in the neighborhood and incidents that occurred.

  In addition, although embodiment of this invention was described above, this invention is not limited to this. For example, “position” can be selected in step S21, and when a position is selected, the process may proceed to step S121.

  In addition, images searched based on the shooting time are displayed as slides, and images searched based on the positions are displayed as thumbnails. Images searched based on the shooting times are displayed as thumbnails, and images searched based on the positions are displayed as slides. Or a slide display and a thumbnail display may be selectable.

  In addition, information (for example, information on the shooting year (year / month)) may be acquired from the Internet and displayed together with the image for the image searched based on the shooting time.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, a simple operation is used to search and display an image over a plurality of years based on the current shooting attribute and the shooting attribute of the image. be able to.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, surrounding sounds are recorded at the time of shooting and stored together with the image and played back at the time of slide display. However, the played back sounds are arbitrary. For example, it is possible to reproduce hit songs of the shooting date of the image, music that matches the season of shooting the image, and the like.

A digital camera that reproduces music according to the shooting time will be described below.
The configuration of the digital camera according to the present embodiment is basically the same as the configuration shown in FIGS.

  However, as shown in FIG. 12A, the storage unit 28 stores music data of one or more songs hit in that year (digested according to the slide display time) by year. Yes. There may be multiple hit songs by year. As the hit song, for example, a song recorded on the recording medium 29 may be copied to the storage unit 28 or downloaded via the communication unit 32 and stored in the storage unit 28.

  The basic operation of the digital camera 100 of this embodiment is basically the same as that of the digital camera 100 of the first embodiment. However, the operation of assigning a hit song to the extracted image and reproducing it when the image is reproduced is different from that of the first embodiment. Therefore, this point will be mainly described below.

  First, in the history search / playback processing of FIG. 6, after setting the search condition based on the shooting time as in the first embodiment, when searching for an image in step S25 (details are shown in FIG. 6), FIG. As shown in (b), it is determined whether or not the i-th image meets the search condition (FIG. 8; step S44), and if it is determined that the i-th image meets the search condition (step S44: Yes). The shooting year of the image is specified (step S61).

  Subsequently, the CPU 21 searches the hit song list shown in FIG. 12A stored in the storage unit 28, and selects one of the hits that year (step S62). At this time, a random number is generated so that the same song is not repeatedly emitted and played in the same order every time, even though a plurality of songs are stored. It is desirable to randomly select from hit songs. At this time, it is desirable to remove the selected song from the selection target until all songs are selected for the same year.

  Subsequently, the image data of the i-th image and the music data of the identified hit song are stored in the first entry among the empty entries in the reproduction list as shown in FIG. 12B (step S63). Proceeding to step S46 in FIG. 8, the image number i is incremented by 1, and the process returns to step S43.

  By creating the playlist shown in FIG. 12C in this way, when slide display is performed in step S26 (detailed in FIG. 10) in FIG. 6, the displayed image is displayed in step S53 in FIG. The corresponding music data is played back.

  According to this configuration, while playing an image, it is possible to listen to the hit song at the time when the image was created, and the enjoyment of playing the image increases.

  Note that, by the same method, arbitrary BGM (BackGround Music) can be reproduced in accordance with the reproduction of the image.

  For example, instead of the combination of “year” and “hit song” shown in FIG. 12A, “BGM” that matches “season” and the season, “BGM” that matches the month and “BGM”, A specific “month / day (for example, anniversary)” is stored in association with “BGM” or the like that matches the date, and the image is identified when the song is specified in step S62 of FIG. Depending on the “shooting season”, “shooting month”, “shooting date”, etc., a song may be selected and stored in a play list, and the image and the song may be played during playback.

  Note that the reproduction list may store the record number of the music data table, the address of the music data storage location, and the like, not the music data.

(Embodiment 3)
In the second embodiment, at the time of slide reproduction, the music is also switched along with the image switching. However, the image switching and the music switching may be performed independently.
Hereinafter, a configuration and operation in the case of performing such music reproduction will be described.

  The configuration of the digital camera 100 in this case is the same as that of the digital camera of the first and second embodiments.

  In this case, when the CPU 21 slides and displays the image extracted in step S25 in FIG. 6, as shown in detail in FIG. 13, the CPU 21 performs an operation slightly different from the processing shown in FIG.

First, the reproduction list is checked, and if the extracted data exists (step S51; Yes), the images to be reproduced are sorted by photographing time (step S71).
For example, if the music is a hit song by year, the images are sorted by shooting year. If the song is a hit song by year, the images are sorted by shooting year. If the BGM is by season, the images are sorted by shooting season. When the BGM is classified by time of day, the images are sorted by shooting time.

  Subsequently, the pointer j for specifying the reproduction target data is set to 1 (step S52), and the audio reproduction unit 31 is instructed to reproduce the hit song or BGM corresponding to the shooting time of the jth image (step S72). Thereafter, the audio reproducing unit 31 reproduces the instructed “time” music while sequentially switching the music, for example, randomly selecting the music. For example, if the music piece is a hit song by year and the shooting year of the j-th image is 2000, hit songs for the year 2000 are sequentially reproduced. Similarly, if the song is a hit song by month and the shooting date of the j-th image is December 2000, then the hit song for December 2000 is sequentially reproduced. If the BGM is classified by season and the shooting time of the j-th image is “summer”, the “summer” BGM is sequentially reproduced. If the shooting time of the j-th image is in the evening by the time of the BGM in the day, the evening BGM is sequentially reproduced.

  Subsequently, the image data stored in the jth entry of the reproduction list is given to the display unit 27 and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 16 (step S73).

  Furthermore, CPU21 starts the timer in the time measuring part 30 (step S54).

  Then, after updating the display target image with j = j + 1 in step S58, in step S73, it is determined whether or not the shooting time of the image specified by the updated j is different from the shooting time of the image displayed immediately before. If it is discriminated and is different (step S74; Yes), the process returns to step S72 to change the “time” of the music to be played back. If not different (step S74; No), the process returns to step S73 and is played back. The image is updated without changing the "time" of the song.

Then, when the display of all the images is completed, the audio reproduction unit 31 is instructed to end the music reproduction (step S75).
According to such a configuration, it is possible to reduce the probability that the music is reproduced in small pieces. Moreover, the hit music and BGM currently recorded can be used effectively.

  As mentioned above, although Embodiment 1-Embodiment 3 of this invention were demonstrated, this invention is not restricted to this, A various application and deformation | transformation are possible.

For example, the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is an example, and can be arbitrarily changed as long as the same function can be realized. For example, instead of GPS, radio waves from a mobile phone base station may be received, and position information may be specified from information on the base station.
In addition, the storage form and operation flow of various data can be arbitrarily changed.

  Further, when the attribute information is position information, the position / range is specified by latitude and longitude, but the method for specifying the position and range (area) is arbitrary. For example, the vicinity of a landmark (a landmark building) near the current location or the administrative division to which the current location belongs may be used as location information. In this case, the CPU 21 of the digital camera 100 stores each captured image in the storage unit 28 in association with a nearby landmark or an administrative division name to which the shooting location belongs. When playing back an image, the CPU 21 determines the name of an administrative district to which a nearby landmark or shooting location belongs, and searches for and extracts an image associated with the determined landmark name or administrative district name. The CPU 21 can discriminate nearby landmarks. For example, a transmitter that transmits unique information is attached to each landmark, and information from the transmitter is captured via the communication unit 32. Thus, nearby landmarks can be easily identified. In addition, a transmitter that transmits a region code or an administrative division code is arranged in various places, and information from this type of transmitter is taken in via the communication unit 32, thereby determining the administrative division of the current location. May be. Furthermore, map information may be given to the GPS 26, and nearby landmarks and administrative divisions may be determined based on the latitude and longitude determined by the GPS 26.

  Further, although the shooting time and the shooting location are shown as shooting attributes, the shooting attributes are not limited to these and are arbitrary. For example, the photographer, the temperature at the time of shooting, the weather at the time of shooting, the event / incident to be photographed are stored together with the image, and the current photographer, temperature, weather, pressure, event / incident to be photographed, etc. May be input by a sensor or manual input, and images over a plurality of years may be searched and extracted using these as keys to be reproduced.

  In each of the above embodiments, a digital camera is exemplified as an electronic apparatus to which the present invention is applied. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to various electronic apparatuses that can process a reproduction-only device. For example, a program for realizing each of the above-described processes is installed in an electronic device such as a general-purpose personal computer in which an image reproduction program is installed, and the computer device executes these programs, so that the present invention is achieved. It can function as such an electronic device.

  The method of providing such a program is arbitrary. For example, the program can be provided by being transmitted by communication while being superimposed on a carrier wave, and the program can be stored in a predetermined recording medium (eg, CD-ROM, DVD, memory card, etc.). May be stored and distributed.

(A) It is a figure which shows the external appearance (front part) of the camera concerning embodiment of this invention. (B) It is a figure which shows the external appearance (rear surface part) of the camera concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a circuit block diagram which shows the internal structure of the camera shown in FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the memory | storage form of the image data stored in a memory | storage part. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the operation mode of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1, and a mode flag. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of imaging. It is a flowchart of a history search reproduction process. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the image search condition setting process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the search extraction process of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the reproduction | regeneration list | wrist produced | generated by the search process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the slide reproduction | regeneration display process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the extraction object position range specific process of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the digital camera concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the digital camera concerning Embodiment 3 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Camera, 11 ... Shutter button, 12 ... Optical system, 14 ... Control button, 15 ... History button, 16 ... Liquid crystal monitor, 17 ... Stop button, 18 ... Microphone, 21 ... CPU, 22 ... Imaging part , 23 ... operation unit, 24 ... RAM, 25 ... voice processing unit, 26 ... GPS, 27 ... display unit, 28 ... storage unit, 29 ... recording medium, 30 ... Timekeeping unit, 31 ... Audio playback unit, 32 ... Communication unit, 33 ... Bus

Claims (10)

An image playback device for playing back and displaying a plurality of captured images,
Image storage means for storing a plurality of image data to which attribute information indicating photographing attributes is added;
Current attribute storage means for storing current attribute information indicating a current photographing attribute;
Based on current attribute information stored in the current attribute storage means and attribute information added to image data stored in the image storage means, in the past having a shooting attribute corresponding to the current shooting attribute A search means for searching the acquired image data;
Display means for displaying past images searched,
An image reproducing apparatus comprising: The image reproduction device includes:
Imaging means;
Means for adding the current attribute information stored in the current attribute storage means to the image captured by the imaging means and storing it in the image storage means;
The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The attribute information is composed of time information indicating a shooting time,
The current attribute storage means includes current time storage means for storing current time information indicating the current time,
The search means is based on the current time information stored in the current time storage means and the time information added to the image data stored in the image storage means. Search and extract image data taken in
The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is an image reproducing apparatus. The current time storage means is
A time measuring means for measuring at least the current date;
Storage means for storing information indicating the date and time of the time measuring means;
The image reproducing device according to claim 3, comprising: The current time information includes information identifying at least one of the current month, a period including the current month and day, and the current season,
The search means searches and extracts image data to which time information indicating a shooting time included in a month, a period, or a season whose shooting time is before the previous year and specified by current time information is added. The image reproducing device according to claim 3 or 4. The attribute information is composed of position information indicating a shooting location,
The current attribute storage means includes current position storage means for storing current position information indicating a predetermined range including the current position,
The search means is within a predetermined range indicated by the current position information based on the current position information stored in the current position storage means and the position information added to the image data stored in the image storage means. Search and extract image data of images taken at
The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reproducing apparatus is an image reproducing apparatus. The current position storage means includes
Position measuring means for measuring the current position;
Storage means for storing current position information based on the position measured by the position measuring means;
The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, comprising: The current position information includes information identifying at least one of current latitude / longitude, landmark, administrative division,
The search means searches and extracts image data to which position information indicating a shooting location within a range indicated by current position information is added.
The image reproduction apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein The display means includes means for displaying the images extracted by the search means while sequentially switching, or means for creating and displaying thumbnail images of the extracted images.
The image reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reproduction apparatus is an image reproduction apparatus. On the computer,
A function of storing current attribute information indicating the current shooting attribute;
Based on the stored current attribute information, search a plurality of image data to which attribute information indicating the shooting attribute is added, and search for image data shot in the past having a shooting attribute corresponding to the current shooting attribute. Function to
A computer program that realizes

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