JP2007081965A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize an electronic camera the operability of which is the same as that of conventional cameras not carrying out transfer and the display quality at reproduction is not lost, even when the electronic camera stores photographed data to a storage medium, sequentially transmits the stored data to an optional place, and delets the data from the storage medium. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic camera is provided with a means that generates an image file of photographed images in compliance with the DCF standard, reads and transfers thumbnail pictures embedded in the image file, and displays the pictures. The electronic camera is provided with a function of stopping reading of pictures when finishing the reading of the thumbnail pictures, does not stop reading on the way in the case of displaying the pictures in detail or with magnification, reads the file up to its end, and displays the original pictures. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention generally relates to an electronic camera equipped with a wireless communication system, and more particularly to a control method for reproducing and displaying captured images.

Some conventional electronic cameras have the following wireless transmission / reception functions.
(See Patent Document 1)
In Patent Document 1, an image captured by an electronic camera is temporarily stored in a memory built in or attached to the electronic camera, and then the image data stored in the memory is transmitted to the electronic camera using a wireless transmission unit. Is transmitted to a physically independent file server (PC, workstation, etc.).

In this case, the wireless transmission of the captured image is performed outside the photographing operation period, and when the wireless transmission of the image data stored in the memory to the file server is successful, the image data in the memory is stored. When deleting and playing back images, it has the function of searching for images from the camera and the file server, converting the file size to a different file size from the time of transmission, communicating and displaying Yes.
JP 2003-264729 A

  As described above, in an electronic camera having a conventional wireless communication function, shooting data is stored in a built-in or removable storage medium in the electronic camera, and the data stored in the storage medium is sequentially stored in an arbitrary place. The captured image data that has been successfully transmitted is sequentially deleted from the storage medium in the electronic camera, and when there is no file in the camera during image reproduction, a transfer request is made to the file camera in the server. At this time, in order to shorten the transfer time, the file size is converted (reduced) and received and displayed. However, since it takes time to convert the file size, the transfer time is certainly shortened, There is a disadvantage in that wasted time other than the transfer time is generated, the efficiency is poor, the response to the operation is poor, and the display quality is deteriorated.

  As means for solving the above-mentioned drawbacks, there is provided means for creating an image file taken by an electronic camera in accordance with the DCF standard, and reading out, transferring, and displaying a thumbnail portion embedded therein. Since this thumbnail is in the first part of the file, reading of the file is started from the beginning of the file, and when reading of the thumbnail is finished, a function of stopping reading is provided. In the case of displaying in detail or displaying in an enlarged manner, reading is not stopped halfway, but the file is read and transmitted to the end, and the main body of the image (hereinafter referred to as the main image) is displayed.

  By adopting such a configuration, the data stored in the storage medium is sequentially transmitted to an arbitrary place by the wireless communication function, and the shooting data successfully transmitted is sequentially deleted from the storage medium in the electronic camera. Even when the file is transferred from the server, the file is read halfway, and when the thumbnail has been read, the reading is stopped, which may cause unnecessary time for file size conversion. Therefore, it can be transferred at high speed, and a higher quality display can be realized.

  In the present invention, means for setting the following two parameters is provided when photographing with an electronic camera.

1. Number of original images to leave in the camera without erasing (minimum 1)
2. Number of thumbnails to save (minimum 0)
The specific setting method of these two parameters is assumed to be performed by some known method, and the description thereof is omitted here.

  In addition, the photographing operation, the circuit block diagram, and the like are also known techniques, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  Here, the flow of captured image data will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG.
An image sensor 101 converts a captured image into an electric signal.

  Reference numeral 102 denotes an image processing circuit for converting a signal from the image sensor into a file.

  Reference numeral 103 denotes a memory for temporarily storing files after image processing.

  Reference numeral 104 denotes a TFT display circuit for displaying an image or the like.

  Reference numeral 105 denotes a recording medium such as a removable memory card or hard disk.

  Alternatively, a module including an interface may be connected to the server from here.

  Reference numeral 106 denotes an input / output interface such as USB or IEEE1394.

  As long as it can communicate at high speed, other standards may be used regardless of these standards.

  A wireless communication circuit 107 includes a CPU, a memory, and an interface circuit that communicates with the input / output interface.

  Since it has a built-in CPU and memory, it can transmit and receive arbitrary data at high speed wirelessly regardless of the shooting operation. Further, this communication circuit may be built in the camera or may be detachable.

  A file server 108 includes a personal computer (sometimes referred to as a PC) having one or more recording media, and includes a wireless communication device or is connected to a LAN or the Internet. The wireless communication device may be in another place. This functions as an external storage device that can be accessed by wireless communication physically independent of the electronic camera.

  The captured image is converted into an electrical signal by the image sensor 101, processed by the image processing circuit 102, and temporarily stored in the memory card 105 mounted via the memory 103 built in the electronic camera.

  Thereafter, the image data stored in the memory card 105 is read out, and via a memory 103 and an input / output interface 106, a file server 108 (PC, To a workstation).

  The protocol for communication may be a protocol such as FTP or HTTP, but may be another protocol.

  Shooting data that has been successfully transmitted is sequentially deleted from the memory card 105 that is a storage medium in the electronic camera.

  At this time, even if the transfer is completed according to the two parameters, a specified number of images may be left without being erased.

  By setting the minimum value of the number of remaining images to 1 instead of 0, the last captured image having a high reproduction frequency is always left on the memory card 105, but transfer is performed for all data.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the thumbnail has a structure such as an image information header, a thumbnail, and a main image in the first part of the file as shown in FIG. By performing reading as shown in b), no conversion work is required.

  Although it has been described that the data transmission is stored in the memory card 105, the data may be transmitted from the memory 103 directly to the wireless communication circuit 107 via the input / output interface 106 before being stored in the memory card 105. In this case, if the transfer to the server 108 is completed before the data is stored in the memory card 105, and the data before storage in the memory card 105 is larger than the remaining number in the memory 103, the transfer is performed. The completed data may not be stored in the memory card 105.

  When playing back an image when the image has been erased from the memory card 105 in the electronic camera, it cannot be played back conventionally, but in the present invention, when the playback operation is performed, the image taken first is the first. Is read from the memory card 105 to the memory 103 and displayed on the display circuit 104.

  A procedure for displaying another image is shown in FIG.

  In this flow, a file is searched for the image to be displayed from the memory card 105 and the server 108 (301), and the location of the image is checked (302). When reading the file from the card 105 (303) and displaying the file of the server 108, the server 108 starts reading and receiving the file of the server via the wireless communication circuit 107 and the input / output interface 106 (304). And confirms whether or not the thumbnail existing in the relatively first part of the file stored in the memory 103 has been read (305), and if it has been read, display image change request means (not shown) at this point (306) is checked for another image display request from, and if there is no request, the file Until the end reading from (309) displaying a main image to the display circuit 104 to (310). If there is a request to display another image when the thumbnail portion has been read, the file reading is stopped (307) at that time, and the thumbnail image is displayed on the display circuit 104 (308). Returning to 301, an image to be displayed is searched.

  When the displayed image is enlarged, the main image currently being displayed is stored in the memory 103, and may be enlarged. When the data read to the memory 103 becomes full, it is sufficient to erase the oldest data and store new data.

  Further, when the reproduction display is finished, the image that has been transferred to another storage unit and read into the memory 103 is discarded.

Block diagram showing the flow of data Diagram showing file structure The flowchart which showed the reproduction | regeneration procedure of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Image sensor 102 Image processing circuit 103 Memory 104 Display circuit, such as TFT 105 Detachable memory card 106 Input / output interface 107 Wireless communication circuit 108 File server

Claims (3)

  An electronic camera having a built-in or removable wireless communication circuit capable of transmitting / receiving arbitrary data, a memory for temporarily storing photographing data, and a removable recording medium, and the camera are physically independent, and at least one Image data captured by the electronic camera is transmitted wirelessly between the storage media that can be accessed wirelessly, such as a PC equipped with two or more storage media, and attached to the electronic camera after transmission is completed. A camera that deletes image data and the like stored in a removable recording medium provided with a display circuit for displaying the image data and the like, and when the image is reproduced and displayed, there is no image in the storage medium in the electronic camera In this case, a thumbnail portion existing at the beginning of the file from the PC or the like is transferred to the temporary storage memory and displayed on the display circuit. Camera.   2. The electronic camera according to claim 1, further comprising a display image change request unit, wherein when the display request is made to be displayed on the display circuit, a thumbnail is not displayed when there is no other image display request from the change request unit. An electronic camera which transfers a file to the temporary storage memory to the end and displays the main image on the display circuit.   3. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the photographing data is stored in the temporary storage memory, and then recorded on the removable recording medium, and simultaneously transferred to the wirelessly accessible storage medium. Electronic camera.

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