JP2009118346A - Information recording apparatus, method of controlling the same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid a situation that a user fails in photography because a process speed for storing to a ring buffer becomes larger than a speed for writing to an attachable storage medium. <P>SOLUTION: In an imaging apparatus recording a moving image data in a removable storage medium, a storage medium detector 106 detects that a storage medium 105 is attached to an attached part. A storage medium interface 104 reads out a recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attached part. A display 108 displays an alert at least in one of a case when the recording rate of the storage medium 105 attached to the attached part can not be read out and a case when the recording rate of the storage medium 105 attached to the attached part is smaller than a photography recording rate of the imaging apparatus. By such a configuration, a user can know an situation that a process speed for storing to a ring buffer becomes larger than a speed for writing to the storage medium 105 results in failures in photography before photographing. Accordingly, failures in photography can be avoided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information recording apparatus capable of recording information on a removable storage medium, a control method thereof, a program, and an imaging apparatus.

  In recent years, photographing devices such as digital video cameras have been improved in HD (hard disk) and high image quality, and the recording rate of moving images has been increased. In addition, a storage medium such as a removable semiconductor memory (for example, an SD (Secure Digital) card) has been added with a class function that guarantees a minimum recording rate.

  However, the SD card usually does not have the concept of a class that guarantees the minimum recording rate, and the user often cannot grasp the minimum recording rate of moving images on the SD card.

  Further, in a recording method such as a digital video camera, a method is generally used in which a ring buffer is used during moving image shooting, captured moving image data is stored in buffering, and recorded in a storage medium in parallel.

  However, in the recording method as described above, the storage processing speed in the ring buffer may be faster than the writing speed in the storage medium. In this case, when continuous shooting of moving images is executed, the ring buffer may become full, and it may be necessary to stop recording.

  In view of the above, the user cannot determine the recording rate performance of the SD card at the time when an SD card without class display is inserted into an information recording device such as a camera. In such a case, there is a possibility that the recording may be stopped due to the buffer being full at the time of actual recording, and shooting may fail.

  As a technique that considers the recording rate of such a storage medium, for example, Patent Document 1 detects the recording rate performance of an external storage medium, determines an optimal recording method corresponding to the performance, and performs recording processing. Technology is disclosed.

JP 2006-148723 A

However, although the technique described in Patent Document 1 detects the minimum recording rate of the storage medium, the user fails to shoot because the storage processing speed to the ring buffer is faster than the writing speed to the storage medium. It is not intended to avoid such a situation.
In order to avoid such a situation in which shooting fails during recording, the user should detect the minimum recording rate of the storage medium at an appropriate timing and alert the user to avoid situations where shooting fails. Needs to be done. Patent Document 1 does not disclose such an appropriate start timing for detecting the minimum recording rate of the storage medium or alerting the user to shooting failure.

Also, in order for the user to avoid the situation where the shooting fails as described above, when the user has shot a moving image using a storage medium having a predetermined minimum recording rate, how long the shooting is performed. It is preferable to clearly show whether or not this is possible.
However, Patent Document 1 discloses how much recording can be performed when a moving image is actually shot using a storage medium in which the minimum recording rate is detected, and how much can be recorded at the currently set recording rate. There is no disclosure about indicating whether video shooting is possible.

  In view of such a situation, the present invention can avoid a situation in which a user fails to shoot because the storage processing speed in the ring buffer becomes faster than the writing speed to the mountable storage medium. The purpose is to provide a recording device.

An information recording apparatus according to the present invention is an information recording apparatus that includes a detachable storage medium mounting unit and records information on the storage medium, and detects that the storage medium is mounted on the mounting unit. Detection means, performance reading means for reading a recording rate of a storage medium attached to the attachment unit, and a case where the performance reading means cannot read a recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit, and the performance reading means Is provided with notification means for notifying a warning when the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit read out is at least one of the cases where the recording rate is inferior to the recording rate of the information recording apparatus. .
An imaging apparatus according to the present invention is an imaging apparatus including an imaging unit that captures an image. The imaging apparatus includes the information recording apparatus described above, and image data of an image captured by the imaging unit using the information recording apparatus. It is characterized by recording.
The control method for the information recording apparatus of the present invention is a control method for an information recording apparatus that includes a detachable storage medium mounting section and records information on the storage medium, and the storage medium is mounted on the mounting section. A storage medium detecting step for detecting that the recording medium has been read, a performance reading step for reading a recording rate of the storage medium mounted on the mounting unit, and a recording rate of the storage medium mounted on the mounting unit in the performance reading step. A notification step of notifying the user when the recording rate of the storage medium mounted in the mounting unit read out in the performance reading step is at least one of inferior to the recording rate of the information recording apparatus. It is characterized by having.
The program of the present invention is a program that includes a mounting unit for a removable storage medium, and that causes a computer to execute control of an information recording apparatus that records information on the storage medium. A storage medium detecting step for detecting that the recording medium is mounted, a performance reading step for reading a recording rate of the storage medium mounted on the mounting unit, and a recording rate of the storage medium mounted on the mounting unit in the performance reading step When the recording rate of the storage medium mounted in the mounting unit read in the performance reading step is at least one of lower than the recording rate of the information recording apparatus, a warning is notified. A program for causing a computer to execute a notification step.

  According to the present invention, for example, when moving image data is recorded in an imaging device, the storage processing speed in the ring buffer becomes faster than the writing speed in the mountable storage medium, so that the user fails in shooting. It is possible to avoid such a situation.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a digital camera (hereinafter referred to as a camera) that is an imaging apparatus provided with an information recording apparatus of the present invention. The camera 100 includes a plurality of functional blocks referred to in FIG.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a system controller that controls the entire system. An image capturing unit 102 captures images (still images and moving images), and includes an optical system, a motor for controlling the optical system, an image sensor, and the like, and forms an optical image and performs photoelectric exchange. Reference numeral 103 denotes an audio / video processing unit that converts an electrical signal from the imaging unit 102 into digital data, encodes the data, and temporarily stores the data in a built-in ring buffer.

  Reference numeral 104 denotes a storage medium interface (storage medium IF), which records digital data from the audio / video processing unit 103 in the storage medium 105. Reference numeral 105 denotes a storage medium that can be attached to and detached from the storage unit for the storage medium of the camera 100, for example, an SD card, and records digital data. Reference numeral 106 denotes a storage medium detection unit that detects the attachment / detachment state of the storage medium 105 (corresponding to a configuration example of the storage medium detection means in the present invention). A storage medium remaining capacity detection unit 107 detects a data capacity (referred to as a recordable remaining capacity) that can be recorded in the storage medium 105.

  Reference numeral 108 denotes a display unit composed of a TFT / LCD or the like, which displays a video (moving image data) captured by the imaging unit 102. An audio output unit 109 can output a warning for notifying the user of the internal state of the camera 100 and audio during video reproduction. Further, the warning and the operating state of the camera 100 can be displayed on the display unit 108.

  A user operation unit 110 is used when the user operates the camera 100 and enables various operations of the camera 100 by the user. The user operation unit 110 includes a main power switch, and can switch between a recording mode, a reproduction mode, a stop mode, and the like.

  When recording moving image data using the camera 100 as described above, first, the external light that has passed through the imaging unit 102 forms an optical image on the surface of the imaging device, and is converted into an electrical signal by the imaging device. The electrical signal is converted into moving image data by the audio / video processing unit 103. The moving image data is further encoded and temporarily stored in a ring buffer built in the image / audio processing unit 103. The temporarily stored moving image data is recorded as a moving image on the storage medium 105 attached to the camera 100 main body via the storage medium interface 104. The storage medium interface 104 can also read the recording performance (such as the minimum recording rate) of the mounted storage medium 105.

  When reproducing the moving image data recorded in the storage medium 105, the moving image data read from the storage medium 105 via the storage medium interface 104 is converted into data suitable for display by the image / audio processing unit 103. Then, it is displayed on the display unit 108.

  The camera 100 provides a mode that recommends a performance test of the storage medium 105 when the user inserts the storage medium 105 before shooting. When a card with a low recording rate is inserted, the camera 100 can be used for warning or one-time video shooting. Is available (recordable time). Hereinafter, specific contents of this process will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows a display for prompting “trial shooting” for the performance test when the storage medium 105 is inserted into the camera 100, and then performs “trial shooting” to display the reproduction of the storage medium 105. It is a flowchart explaining a series of sequences which display recordable time.

  First, in step S <b> 201, the system controller 101 detects the storage medium 105 via the storage medium detection unit 106. If the storage medium 105 is detected, the process proceeds to step S202.

  In step S <b> 202, the system controller 101 acquires information on the storage medium 105 via the storage medium interface 104. This process corresponds to a process example of the performance reading unit in the present invention.

  In step S <b> 203, the system controller 101 confirms whether the information acquired in step S <b> 202 includes information regarding the minimum recording rate of the storage medium 105. If there is recording rate information, the process proceeds to step S204, and if not, the process proceeds to step S205.

  In step S <b> 204, the system controller 101 compares the shooting and recording rate of the camera 100 (the speed of the storage process performed on the ring buffer built in the image / audio processing unit 103) with the minimum recording rate of the storage medium 105. When the minimum recording rate of the storage medium 105 is lower than the shooting recording rate, the process proceeds to step S206, and when it is higher, the process ends.

If the minimum recording rate of the storage medium 105 cannot be determined or the minimum recording rate is lower (lower) than the shooting recording rate of the camera 100, the system controller 101 displays a display for recommending “trial shooting” in step S205 and step S206. 108.
Specifically, when the minimum recording rate of the storage medium 105 cannot be determined, the system controller 101 performs display as shown in FIG. 4 in step S205. Specifically, since the minimum recording rate is unknown, it is urged to confirm whether or not an image can be sufficiently recorded using the storage medium 105.
Further, when the minimum recording rate of the storage medium 105 is lower than the shooting recording rate of the camera 100, the system controller 101 performs display as shown in FIG. 5 in step S206. Specifically, the storage medium 105 is notified that recording may be interrupted in the middle of recording, and prompts the user to confirm whether the image can be recorded sufficiently using the storage medium 105. Note that this processing corresponds to a processing example of the notification means referred to in the present invention, and “trial taking” in this processing corresponds to a configuration example of the recommendation notification referred to in the present invention.

  In step S207, the system controller 101 detects whether or not a trigger for performing “trial shooting” is pressed within a certain time. If a trigger is detected, the process proceeds to step S208. If not detected, the process ends.

  In step S <b> 208, the system controller 101 performs a “trial shooting” process. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S209, the system controller 101 reproduces the moving image captured in step S208. Thereafter, in step S210, the system controller 101 displays the recordable time in the attached storage medium 105. As a specific example of the recordable time display in step S210, for example, a specific recordable time (3 minutes in this example) is displayed as shown in FIG.

  Next, FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a sequence when “trial shooting” is performed in the camera 100.

  First, in step S301, the system controller 101 starts time measurement simultaneously with the start of moving image recording.

  In step S <b> 302, the system controller 101 confirms whether the storage medium 105 has free capacity via the storage medium remaining capacity detection unit 107. If there is free space, monitoring is performed in step S303 until the ring buffer that temporarily records the captured encoded data is full. In step S302, if there is no free space, the process ends. In this case, the display unit 108 may display that there is no free space.

  If the ring buffer becomes full in step S303, in step S304, the system controller 101 stops time measurement simultaneously with the stop of recording of the photographing operation. Here, the elapsed time from step S301 is measured. Based on this time, the camera 100 displays a recordable time in step S210.

As described above, in the camera 100 according to the present embodiment, the minimum recording rate of the storage medium 105 is detected at the timing when the storage medium 105 is mounted (timing before the start of shooting).
If the minimum recording rate is unknown or the minimum recording rate is low, the user may have a higher storage processing speed in the ring buffer than the writing speed to the mountable storage medium. The notice (warning) for alerting is added. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the alerting is performed by recommending “trial shooting”, and the user is notified of how much time can be shot through the trial shooting.
By using the camera 100 having such a configuration, the user may fail to shoot because the storage processing speed in the ring buffer is faster than the writing speed in the storage medium 105 that can be mounted. You can know before shooting and avoid shooting failures. In addition, since it is possible to specifically know how much time can be taken in the attached storage medium 105, it is possible to accurately grasp the situation of photographing failure.

  In this embodiment, the user is alerted by performing a display that recommends “trial shooting”, but other modes may be used. For example, instead of a display that recommends “trial shooting”, a message such as “There is a possibility that shooting may be stopped due to the performance of the recording rate of the storage medium” may be displayed on the display unit 108.

  In the present embodiment, the setting of the shooting / recording rate of the camera 100 is not particularly mentioned. Of course, a plurality of speeds can be set. In this case, instead of the display that recommends “trial shooting”, “The current recording rate of the recording medium may cause the recording to stop due to the performance of the recording rate of the recording medium. Please display "or the like. Furthermore, a message such as “If the shooting recording rate is set to“ XX ”, normal shooting can be performed” may be added. Needless to say, the recordable time calculated by the camera 100 in step S304 changes according to the set shooting recording rate. Further, when setting the shooting and recording rate, for example, the user operation unit 110 may be used.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to being applied to a digital camera or the like. The present invention can be suitably applied to a portable device having a configuration in which a storage medium can be attached and detached, and having a moving image photographing function (for example, a cellular phone or a PDA with a camera function). For example, the present invention can be applied to a configuration in which information temporarily stored in a buffer is not recorded on a removable storage medium but is recorded on an external device connected via a wire.

  In order to realize the present invention, a storage medium in which a program code (computer program) of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments may be used. In this case, the object of the present invention is achieved by supplying the storage medium to the system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code itself and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Needless to say, the OS (basic system or operating system) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code.

  Furthermore, the program code read from the storage medium may be written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. In this case, based on the instruction of the written program code, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit may perform part or all of the actual processing.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the digital camera which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a display sequence for recommending “trial shooting” performed when a storage medium is mounted in the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining the sequence at the time of performing "trial photography" in the digital camera which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display which recommends "trial shooting" displayed in the digital camera which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display which recommends "trial shooting" displayed in the digital camera which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display of the recordable time of the storage medium displayed in the digital camera which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 System controller 102 Image pick-up part 103 Image audio | voice process part 104 Storage medium interface 105 Storage medium 106 Storage medium detection part 107 Storage medium remaining amount detection part 108 Display part 109 Voice output part 110 User operation part

Claims (9)

An information recording apparatus that includes a removable storage medium mounting portion and records information on the storage medium,
Storage medium detecting means for detecting that a storage medium is mounted on the mounting unit;
Performance reading means for reading the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit;
When the performance reading unit cannot read the recording rate of the storage medium mounted on the mounting unit, and the recording rate of the storage medium mounted on the mounting unit read by the performance reading unit is the recording rate of the information recording apparatus An information recording apparatus comprising: a notification means for notifying a warning when it is at least one of inferior to the above.   The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit performs a recommendation notification that recommends that information be recorded on a storage medium attached to the attachment unit as a test together with a warning.   When recording is performed based on the recommendation notification, a recordable time that can be recorded using a storage medium attached to the attachment unit is measured, and the recordable time is displayed on a display device. Item 3. The information recording device according to Item 2.   The notification means performs a notification that recommends changing the setting of the recording rate of the information recording device when the recording rate of the storage medium mounted in the mounting unit is inferior to the recording rate of the information recording device. The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information recording apparatus is a recording medium.   The notification means can record information normally using the storage medium attached to the attachment unit when the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit is inferior to the recording rate of the information recording apparatus. The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a recording rate of the apparatus is notified.   The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is moving image data. An image pickup apparatus having an image pickup means for picking up an image,
An imaging apparatus comprising the information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein image data of an image captured by the imaging unit is recorded by the information recording apparatus. A control method for an information recording apparatus comprising a mounting part for a removable storage medium and recording information on the storage medium,
A storage medium detecting step for detecting that a storage medium is mounted on the mounting unit;
A performance reading step of reading the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit;
When the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit cannot be read in the performance reading step, and the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit read out in the performance reading step is the recording rate of the information recording apparatus And a notification step of notifying a warning when at least one of the cases is inferior to the control method of the information recording apparatus. A program for causing a computer to execute control of an information recording apparatus that includes a mounting unit for a removable storage medium and records information on the storage medium,
A storage medium detecting step for detecting that a storage medium is mounted on the mounting unit;
A performance reading step of reading the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit;
When the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit cannot be read in the performance reading step, and the recording rate of the storage medium attached to the attachment unit read out in the performance reading step is the recording rate of the information recording apparatus A program for causing a computer to execute a notification step of notifying a warning when it is at least one of inferior cases.

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