JP2007274030A - Image output device and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize images picked up in the past. <P>SOLUTION: A personal computer acquires present date (S1) at an arbitrary timing, searches such an image as the day and month indicated by photography date information attached to each image coincides with the day and month of present date, and images within a predetermined period thereof from among a plurality of images stored on a storage medium (S2). If a plurality of corresponding images do not exist, that image is read out immediately and displayed for a predetermined time (S5, S6). If a plurality of corresponding images exist, they are read out sequentially starting from the oldest one, and each image is displayed for a predetermined time (S7, S8). An image of the same date (month and day) as the present date and images picked up within a predetermined period thereof in the past can be displayed automatically. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image output apparatus and an image output method for automatically outputting any one of a plurality of stored images after being acquired by photographing.

Conventionally, images taken with a digital camera are mainly printed or stored for a long time on a recording medium (such as a memory card) on the camera body, or displayed as needed, or saved on a personal computer. In most cases, viewing is performed depending on whether the image file is opened and displayed on the screen at a desired time. Also, for example, Patent Document 1 below describes a technique for automatically reproducing and displaying a plurality of recorded images in various display forms in a digital camera.
JP-A-8-223525

  However, according to the above technique, a plurality of recorded images can be automatically displayed in various display forms. However, all the recorded images are to be displayed, and the function is only It was only a confirmation of the recorded image. In addition, when there are a large number of images to be displayed, for example, when the number of recorded images reaches three digits, the meaning of displaying each image is diminished. Therefore, it has not been possible to effectively use images taken in the past.

  The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and provides an image output apparatus and an image output method that enable effective use of images taken in the past, and a program used for realizing the image output apparatus. For the purpose.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the invention of claim 1, an image storage means for storing a plurality of images acquired by shooting and accompanied by shooting date information is stored in the image storage means. Of the plurality of images stored in the image storage means, the output date for outputting any image, the date acquisition means for acquiring the current date, and the shooting date indicated by the shooting date information Search means for searching for an image that is earlier than the current date acquired by the date acquisition means and matches the month and day of the current date, and output control means for causing the output means to output the image searched by the search means. An image output device was obtained.

  In such a configuration, an image having the same shooting date can be automatically output from a plurality of images shot and recorded before last year.

  In the invention according to claim 2, when the output control means includes a plurality of images searched by the search means, the plurality of images are photographed indicated by photographing date information attached to each of the plurality of images. The output means outputs the data in a predetermined output order based on the date.

  In such a configuration, when there are a plurality of images to be output, they can be output in order from the newest (or oldest) shooting date.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the retrieval unit obtains, from the plurality of images stored in the image storage unit, a shooting date indicated by the shooting date information by the date acquisition unit. In addition to images that are earlier than the current date and coincide with the date of the current date, images that are within a certain period before and after the current date are searched.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the output means is a display means for displaying an image stored in the image storage means on a screen.

  In such a configuration, an image having the same shooting + date can be automatically displayed on the screen from a plurality of images shot and recorded before last year.

  In the invention of claim 5, the shooting date indicated by the shooting date information attached to each image is selected from among a plurality of images stored in the image storage means and the step of acquiring the current date. The image output method includes a step of searching for an image that is earlier than the current date and matches the month and day of the current date, and a step of outputting the searched image by output means.

  According to this method, an image having the same shooting date can be automatically output from a plurality of images shot and recorded before last year.

  In the invention of claim 6, the computer obtains the current date from the process and the shooting date information attached to each image from the plurality of images stored in the image storage means. A program for executing a process of searching for an image whose shooting date is earlier than the current date and matching the date of the current date and a process of outputting the searched image by an output unit are provided.

  In the present invention, an image having the same shooting date can be automatically output from a plurality of images shot and recorded before last year by a screen display or the like. Therefore, it is possible to effectively use images taken in the past, such as reminding the user of any anniversary that the user has forgotten.

  Further, when there are a plurality of images to be output, it is possible to output them in order from the newest (or oldest) shooting date. Therefore, convenience is improved.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) 1 constituting the image output apparatus of the present invention.

  The PC 1 has a general configuration, and mainly includes a control unit 2, a RAM 3, an auxiliary storage device 4, an input device 5, a display device 6, a built-in clock 7, an input / output interface circuit (I / O) 8, and the like. Yes.

  The control unit 2 includes a CPU and its peripheral circuits, and controls the entire apparatus using the RAM 3 as an external memory. The auxiliary storage device 4 is a hard disk or the like having a large storage capacity, and stores an arbitrary OS (operating system), various application programs, and various data.

  The input device 5 is a keyboard and a mouse. The display device 6 is an LCD or CRT and is a display means (output means) of the present invention. The built-in clock 7 is operated by a backup power source (secondary power source) different from the main power source and has a calendar function, holds the current date and time data and supplies them to the control unit 2. The input / output interface circuit 8 controls data input / output with a digital camera or other external device connected to the input / output port.

  The auxiliary storage device 4 is image storage means of the present invention, and data (image file) of a photographed image recorded and recorded by a digital camera or the like is directly or indirectly transferred from the digital camera or the like at an arbitrary time. Or it is copied and stored. Note that the image file conforms to the Exif format, which is a standard specification, and includes additional information including a shooting date and a shooting time attached to data of the image main body.

  Furthermore, a predetermined image browsing program used for browsing an arbitrary image or the like is installed in the auxiliary storage device 4 as the application program. And the said control part 2 functions as a date acquisition means of this invention, a search means, and an output control means by performing the process mentioned later based on the program concerned.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the contents of the activation process executed by the control unit 2 when the image browsing program is activated by the user.

  As will be described below, the control unit 2 starts its operation with the activation of the image browsing program, immediately acquires the current date and time data from the built-in clock 7 and confirms the current date and time (step S1). Next, from the image files stored in a predetermined location of the auxiliary storage device 4, for example, a location set in advance by the user, the shooting date is before last year, and the current month date, that is, before and after the current date. An image file corresponding to a certain period (for example, within one week before and after) is searched (step S2).

  Here, if the corresponding image file does not exist (NO in step S3), the activation process is terminated as it is. Although not shown, after the start-up process is completed, the process proceeds to a process necessary for browsing an arbitrary image according to the image browsing program.

  On the other hand, when the corresponding image file exists and is one (YES in step S3, NO in step S4), the corresponding image file is read (step S5), and the image is stored for a certain period of time. It is displayed on the display device 6 (for example, for 5 seconds) (step S6), and the activation process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when there are corresponding image files and there are a plurality of them (steps S3 and S4 are both YES), the corresponding image files are read in order from the oldest shooting date and time (step S7), The image is displayed on the display device 6 for a predetermined time (for example, 3 seconds) (step S8). Then, all corresponding images are displayed in the same manner (NO in step S9), and when the display is completed (YES in step S9), the activation process is terminated.

  As described above, in the PC 1, when the user starts the image browsing program, if there is an image having the same shooting date in the past, it is automatically displayed. The display can remind, for example, of any anniversary that the user has forgotten. It can also remind you of events that occurred on the same day in the past, such as events and trips. Moreover, it is possible to view an unexpected image that has been forgotten at all. Therefore, the captured image stored (saved) in the auxiliary storage device 4 can be used effectively.

  In addition, in this embodiment, in addition to images of the same shooting date, images shot for a certain period before and after that are also automatically displayed, which reminds you of events that occurred at the same time even on the same day. Can do.

  Also, when there are a plurality of images whose shooting dates are within the same period and before and after a certain period, it is possible to display them in order from the oldest shooting date, which is convenient. The display order may be displayed in reverse order from the newest, or the display order may be set by the user in advance in the image browsing program.

  Here, in the present embodiment, a case has been described in which images taken on a certain period before and after the shooting date (month day) are displayed, but only images with the same shooting date are displayed. It may be displayed.

  Further, when there are a plurality of images to be displayed, they may be displayed as a list for a certain period of time instead of displaying them one by one as described above. In that case, a plurality of images may be displayed in a list at the same time, or the images may be sequentially displayed starting from the newest shooting date and finally displayed in a list. When displaying one image at a time (including finally displaying a list), instead of automatically displaying an image to be displayed, it may be displayed in order according to a predetermined key operation by the user.

  In addition, while operating according to the image browsing program, the control unit 2 stores history information including the file name of the browsed (displayed) image and the browsing date in the auxiliary storage device 4 as a history file, for example. In the above-described activation process, for example, before performing the search in step S2, an image that has been viewed (displayed) for a certain period (for example, one week) immediately before by referring to the history information described above. In step S2, a search for excluding those images from the search target may be performed.

  Further, unlike the image browsing program, for example, when the PC 1 is activated, the auxiliary storage device 4 stores a predetermined image display program that causes the control unit 2 to perform only the processing similar to the processing described above immediately after that. (Installation) may be performed and the above-described processing may be performed. In this case, as described above, the image to be searched (displayed) is limited to the image having the same shooting date as described above, and when there is a corresponding image, the image is displayed on the background of the display screen of the display device 6 ( (Wallpaper). When there are corresponding images, they may be displayed as a list, or the oldest and newest images may be selectively displayed.

  Furthermore, the timing for automatically searching for and displaying images with the same shooting date and images taken during a certain period before and after that date is not limited to when a specific application or PC 1 is activated, but at any point in time. can do.

  Further, in the above description, the image stored in the auxiliary storage device 4 is a photographed image that has been photographed and recorded by a digital camera or the like, and as image data (image file) that conforms to the Exif format. Assuming that the image is stored, the image that is automatically searched and displayed as described above is a captured image that has been once processed by a personal computer or the like if it is accompanied by shooting date information. It may also be image data (image file) in a format other than the Exif format. Further, the shooting date information is not necessarily embedded in the image data as long as the correspondence with the image data is clear.

  On the other hand, although cases have been described with the present embodiment where the present invention is implemented by a PC, the present invention can also be applied to devices other than a PC. For example, as long as it does not have a photographing function like a normal PC, it can be applied to a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants). In addition, any camera having a photographing function can be applied to a digital camera, a digital video camera, a mobile phone terminal with a camera, a PDA with a camera, and the like.

  In particular, when the present invention is applied to a camera-equipped mobile phone terminal, for example, when the date changes, an image whose shooting date is before last year and on the same day is searched, and the image is automatically converted to a standby screen image. It can be set and displayed. In this case, the image recorded in the camera-equipped mobile phone terminal can be used extremely effectively as a reminder (notification) of any anniversary that the user has forgotten.

  Furthermore, instead of displaying or displaying the searched image on the own machine as described above, an e-mail attached with the image is automatically created, and the created e-mail is preset. You may make it transmit (output) to the predetermined | prescribed other party. This can also be implemented in a PC, PDA, or the like as long as it is configured to send mail.

  In other words, in the present invention, the image searched as described above is not limited to simple display, but may be output in other output forms such as transmission to other devices. Note that the output form in this case includes printing, image display on other devices, and transmission and transfer of image data for the purpose of printing.

It is a block diagram of a personal computer according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which concerns on this invention of the personal computer.

Explanation of symbols

1 Personal computer 2 Control unit 3 RAM
4 Auxiliary storage device 5 Input device 6 Display device 7 Built-in clock 8 Input / output interface circuit

Claims (6)

Image storage means for storing a plurality of images acquired by shooting and accompanied by shooting date information;
Output means for outputting any image stored in the image storage means;
Date acquisition means for acquiring the current date;
Among the plurality of images stored in the image storage unit, an image whose shooting date indicated by the shooting date information is earlier than the current date acquired by the date acquisition unit and matches the month and day of the current date A search means for searching for,
An image output device comprising: output control means for causing the output means to output an image searched by the search means. The output control means includes
When there are a plurality of images searched by the search means, the plurality of images are output to the output means in a predetermined output order based on the shooting date indicated by the shooting date information attached to each of the images. The image output apparatus according to claim 1. The search means includes
Among the plurality of images stored in the image storage unit, an image whose shooting date indicated by the shooting date information is earlier than the current date acquired by the date acquisition unit and matches the month and day of the current date The image output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an image within a certain period before and after the month is searched. The output means includes
4. The image output device according to claim 1, wherein the image output device is display means for displaying an image stored in the image storage means on a screen. Obtaining the current date; and
Searching for an image in which the shooting date indicated by the shooting date information attached to each image is earlier than the current date and matches the month and day of the current date, from a plurality of images stored in the image storage means; ,
And a step of outputting the retrieved image by an output means. On the program computer,
Processing to get the current date,
A process of searching for an image in which the shooting date indicated by the shooting date information attached to each image is earlier than the current date and matches the date of the current date, from a plurality of images stored in the image storage means; ,
A program for executing the processing of outputting the searched image by the output means.

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