JP2007134969A - Image reproduction device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate missing moving video data when dubbing. <P>SOLUTION: The device discriminates whether a user presses a dubbing switch or not (S13). At first, it transmits an attribute information image showing attribute information of the moving video for only prescribed time to an image recording device (S14, S15). Afterward, it transmits a video image reproduced from the recording medium to a recording device (S16). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image playback device that plays back moving images.

  Conventionally, when a moving image is dubbed using two digital video recording devices, that is, when moving image data reproduced by one device is recorded by the other device, a dedicated cable for synchronizing the reproducing device and the recording device. In such a configuration, the playback of the playback device and the recording of the recording device are operated in synchronization with each other (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In recent video recording devices, moving images are compressed and recorded. For example, the MPEG2 system is widely adopted.

A dubbing apparatus configuration for copying moving image data in a compressed state by MPEG2 or the like is also known. For such digital transmission, IEEE (Institut of Electrical and Electrical Engineers) 1394, USB (Universal Serial Bus), etc. Any digital interface or cable can be used.
Japanese Patent No. 03564681

  By the way, the conventional digital video recording apparatus employs a method of synchronizing the dubbing operation of the playback apparatus and the recording apparatus using a dedicated cable and a dedicated communication protocol. In this case, both the playback apparatus and the recording apparatus are compatible. It must be, and it cannot be used universally. Even if the playback device and the recording device are compatible with a dedicated cable or communication protocol, the behavior cannot be fully understood if the two manufacturers are different. Is inevitable. Thereby, when dubbing moving image data, recording of a scene immediately after the start of dubbing may be lost.

  In MPEG2, a moving image is compressed in GOP (GROUP OF PICTURE) units. Therefore, when copying is performed in a compressed state, it is necessary to make the copy succeed in GOP units. In particular, I (intra) pictures are important and exist at the beginning of a GOP. If this I picture is missing, all of its GOPs are also missing. Here, using the method of synchronizing at the time of dubbing as described above, for example, even if the recording apparatus is instructed to start recording simultaneously with the start of reproduction of the reproducing apparatus, the recording apparatus actually starts recording from the instruction to start recording. If it takes a long time, the compressed moving image data output from the playback device is not recorded during that time. If it is MPEG2 data, if a slight recording delay leads to missing an I picture, recording fails in GOP units. The example shown in FIG. 5 shows an example in which recording of GOP1 to GOP4 failed due to such factors and actually recorded from GOP5.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image reproduction apparatus that reduces the possibility of failure in copying compressed moving image data.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes a reproducing unit that reproduces a moving image recorded on a recording medium, and an attribute information image that generates an attribute information image indicating attribute information of the moving image. Generating means, dubbing instruction means for instructing dubbing of a moving image recorded on the recording medium, and outputting the attribute information image in accordance with an instruction from the dubbing instruction means, and then outputting the moving image. Output means.

  According to the present invention, since the attribute information image is output before the moving image, the moving image can be transferred normally even if the start-up of the recording apparatus is delayed, and the lack of recording of the moving image can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an imaging device 10 is a digital video camera, a digital camera, or the like. The imaging device 10 includes an imaging unit 12, a signal processing unit 14, an image memory 16, a compression / decompression unit 18, a recording processing unit 20, a recording medium 22, a CPU 24, a work memory 26, an operation unit 28, a display unit 30, and a video input / output unit. 32, a video terminal 34, a communication input / output unit 36, and a communication terminal 38. The video terminal 34 is connected to a recording device 50 that records image data reproduced by the imaging device 10.

  The imaging unit 12 includes an imaging device such as a CCD sensor or a CMOS sensor, and a lens that forms a subject image on the imaging surface of the imaging device. The signal processing unit 14 includes AGC (automatic gain control), γ (gamma) conversion, and A / D conversion, performs known processing on the image signal, and converts the analog image signal into a digital signal. The image memory 16 temporarily stores the image data output from the signal processing unit 14.

  The compression / decompression unit 18 includes an MPEG circuit or a Motion JPEG circuit for moving image compression, and compresses and encodes image data. The recording processing unit 20 is an interface of the recording medium 22, and the recording medium 22 is a magnetic tape (DV tape), a hard disk, a nonvolatile memory card, a recordable optical disk, or the like.

  The CPU 24 controls the overall operation of the imaging device 10. The work memory 26 is also a memory used by the CPU 22 for processing. The operation unit 28 includes a dial, a button, a switch group, and the like, and includes an imaging switch, a playback switch, and a dubbing switch that are used to instruct the CPU 24 to perform imaging, playback, and dubbing, respectively. Further, the operation unit 28 includes a menu switch that instructs the CPU 24 to display a menu screen for managing a data amount to be described later.

  The display unit 30 includes a liquid crystal panel, an electronic viewfinder, or the like, and displays an image of applied moving image data on the screen.

  The video input / output unit 32 uses a video encoder such as NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) or PAL (Phase Alternating Line) to convert moving image data to an NTSC or PAL format video signal, and the video signal is a video terminal. 34 to the external recording device 50. The video terminal 34 is an S video terminal. The video input / output unit 32 can also take in a video signal supplied from an external video device to the video terminal 34. However, this function is not related to the present invention, so the description thereof is omitted.

  The communication input unit 36 is composed of IEEE1394 or USB. The communication terminal 38 is a communication interface. A video signal compressed by MPEG or the like is output from the communication terminal 38. When the recording device 50 has a similar communication terminal, the recording device 50 can be connected to the communication terminal 38. That is, a desired dubbing operation can be executed regardless of whether the recording device 50 is connected to the video terminal 34 or the communication terminal 38.

  The recording device 50 includes a device that records and reproduces a received video signal on a magnetic tape, a hard disk device, a solid-state memory, or an optical disk, or a personal computer that has a recording function.

  A recording operation and a reproducing operation of the imaging apparatus 10 will be described. In the shooting mode, the imaging unit 12 outputs an image signal of the subject. The image signal of the imaging unit 12 is written into the image memory 16 via the signal processing unit 14. The image stored in the image memory 16 is periodically read and applied to the electronic viewfinder of the display unit 30. The user can check the imaging target by looking at the image displayed on the electronic viewfinder of the display unit 30.

  When the user depresses the imaging switch during the shooting mode, the CPU 24 reads out the image data stored in the image memory 16 and applies it to the compression / decompression unit 18. The compression / decompression unit 18 sequentially compresses and encodes the frame or field image written in the image memory 16 using the MPEG system or the Motion JPEG system. The moving image data compressed by the compression / decompression unit 18 is recorded on the recording medium 22 by the recording processing unit 20.

  In the playback mode, when the user presses the playback switch, the compressed image data is read from the recording medium 22 via the recording processing unit 20 and transferred to the compression / decompression unit 18. The compression / decompression unit 18 decompresses the compressed image data read from the recording medium 22 and stores it in the image memory 16. The reproduced image stored in the image memory 16 is periodically read and applied to the liquid crystal panel of the display unit 30. The liquid crystal panel displays a reproduced image. The video terminal 34 can output the reproduced image as a decompressed video signal, and the communication terminal 38 can output the reproduced image as a compressed digital video signal.

  Next, a dubbing operation from the imaging device 10 to the recording device 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. During the dubbing operation, the imaging device 10 is in a playback mode. FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the imaging apparatus 10. FIG. 3 is a display example of attribute information image data. 4A shows a sequence operation of the transfer process of the imaging device 10, and FIG. 4B shows a sequence operation of the recording process of the recording device 50. In FIG. 4, the original intended moving image (main image) is shown in units of GOP in consideration of application to the case of dubbing in the state of compressed image data.

  In this embodiment, the imaging device 10 records an image indicating attribute information (title name, shooting date and time, shooting location, etc.) of the moving image, that is, an attribute information image, before transmitting the moving image to be recorded. Send to. When the user instructs manual setting of the transmission time of the attribute information image (S10), a setting screen is displayed, and the user can set a desired time (S11). If there is no such instruction, a default value is set (S12). It is obvious that the transmission time of the attribute information image may be the number of frames or the number of fields in addition to the time unit.

  It waits for the user to give an instruction to start dubbing with the dubbing switch of the imaging device 10 (S13). Usually, the user operates the playback start on the playback side and the recording start of the recording device at the same time, but there may be a slight time lag between them, the playback operation of the playback device may be delayed, or the recording device may start recording. Moreover, each delay time is various.

  In response to the dubbing start instruction (S13), the imaging device 10 outputs the attribute information image from the video output terminal 34 to the recording device 50 for the transmission time set in step S11 or S12 (S14, S15). As illustrated in FIG. 3, the attribute information image is an image indicating attribute information of an image to be dubbed. The attribute information includes a title, a shooting date, a shooting location, a photographer, a dubbing date, a dubbing operator, It consists of a manufacturing number or a representative image of the imaging device 10. FIG. 3A shows an example of an attribute information image including a title (title), shooting date and time, shooting location, and the like. FIG. 3B shows an example of an attribute information image including the serial number of the imaging device and the copyright holder. FIG. 3C shows an example of an attribute information image that displays the first screen as a representative image. In step S14, any of the attribute information images shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C may be continuously transferred to the recording device 50, but the attribute information images shown in FIGS. May be sequentially transferred to the recording apparatus 50.

  When the attribute information image is transmitted for the set transmission time (S14), the target moving image is transmitted from the video terminal 34 to the recording device 50 (S16). Then, the transmission of the moving image is continued (S16) until the user presses the dubbing switch again to instruct to stop the dubbing operation (S17).

  When the dubbing switch is pressed again (S17), playback of moving images is stopped and transmission is stopped (S18).

  In the above description, the embodiment of transmitting as an analog video signal has been described. Of course, the present invention can also be applied to the case of dubbing by digital transmission. When performing digital transmission dubbing, for example, an MPEG compressed digital video signal is transmitted from the communication terminal 38. At this time, in response to the start of dubbing, the above-described attribute information image is compressed to MPEG by the compression / decompression unit 18 before starting transmission of the digital video signal indicating the reproduced MPEG-compressed moving image. The compressed image is transmitted for the set transmission time.

  It goes without saying that the attribute information image transmission time setting operation (S10 to S12) may be omitted.

  In this way, in this embodiment, the attribute information image is transmitted for a predetermined time at the start of dubbing on the playback device side, so that even if the recording start on the recording device side is delayed, the original moving image is recorded from the beginning without any trouble. it can. In addition, since it is possible to cope with a change in delay time on the recording apparatus side within a predetermined time, it is possible to cope with various recording apparatuses. Furthermore, it can be used in common for dubbing of analog video signals and dubbing of digital video signals, and a versatile transmission mode can be realized.

  By making it possible to arbitrarily set the transmission time of attribute information image data, it is possible to prevent useless recording and lack of recording.

1 is a block diagram of a schematic configuration of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is an operation flowchart of the imaging apparatus 10. It is an example of the attribute information image of a present Example. It is a sequence diagram of the dubbing operation | movement by a present Example. It is a sequence diagram of the conventional dubbing operation.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Imaging device 12 Imaging part 14 Signal processing part 16 Image memory 18 Compression / decompression part 20 Recording processing part 22 Recording medium 24 CPU
26 Work Memory 28 Operation Unit 30 Display Unit 32 Video Input / Output Unit 34 Communication Input / Output Unit 36 Video Terminal 38 Communication Terminal 50 Personal Computer

Claims (4)

Playback means for playing back a moving image recorded on a recording medium;
Attribute information image generating means for generating an attribute information image indicating the attribute information of the moving image;
Dubbing instruction means for instructing dubbing of a moving image recorded on the recording medium;
An image reproducing apparatus comprising: output means for outputting the attribute information image in response to an instruction from the dubbing instruction means, and thereafter outputting the moving image.   2. The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising setting means for setting a period for outputting the attribute information image.   The attribute information includes character information of any one of shooting date / time, title, photographer, shooting location, shooting device, copyright holder, dubbing date / time, dubbing operator, and model information of the playback device. The image reproduction apparatus according to claim 1.   The image reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information includes a representative image of the moving image.

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