JP2009205508A - Image display, method for controlling the same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable search as fast as possible for desired video in an image search in which images stored in a storage medium are sequentially displayed on a display part. <P>SOLUTION: The number of video frames displayed on the display part is reduced at a slow stage of search speed, and the number of video frames displayed is increased in accordance with faster speed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display device that displays a moving image or a moving image and a still image, and particularly relates to a moving image search technique.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, like iPod (registered trademark), an image display apparatus that can display still images and moving images in a mixed manner and search for images visually is realized. In this type of image display device or the like, the display image switching speed is controlled by, for example, operation of a jog dial or the like (see Patent Document 1).
JP 11-313277 A

  However, if the image switching speed (also referred to as search speed or browse speed) is increased, if only a representative image of a moving image, that is, a still image of a representative scene (frame) is displayed, the desired moving image is displayed. There is a risk of overlooking. Therefore, when the image switching speed is increased, it is necessary to display not only typical images but also a plurality of frames.

  However, when a certain number of images of a plurality of frames are simply displayed, if the browsing speed is increased too much, images are often overlooked, and eventually it is highly likely that it will take a long time to search for a desired video. Become. Further, when the browsing speed is not so fast, it takes a long time until the desired moving image is displayed. In this case, too, it takes a long time to search for the desired moving image.

  The present invention has been made under such a technical background, and an object of the present invention is as quickly as possible when performing an image search while sequentially displaying images stored in a storage medium on a display unit. It is to be able to search for a desired moving image.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image display device for sequentially displaying images stored in a storage medium on a display unit in accordance with an operation of a search operation means, wherein the search speed of the image by the search operation means is increased. Detecting means for detecting, and control means for controlling a switching speed of an image displayed on the display unit in accordance with a stage of the search speed detected by the detection means, and the control means includes the search speed. Control is performed such that the number of moving image frames displayed on the display unit is reduced at a later stage, and the number of moving image frames is increased as the speed increases.

  In the present invention, the number of moving image frames displayed on the display unit is reduced when the search speed is low, and the number of moving image frames displayed is increased as the speed increases.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, when an image search is performed while images stored in the storage medium are sequentially displayed on the display unit, a desired moving image can be searched as quickly as possible.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is an external view of an image display apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The image display apparatus 101 has a display panel 102 and a jog dial 103.

  The display panel 102 is a display panel according to a thin display device such as a liquid crystal display device, a self-luminous flat display device, or a plasma display device. This image display device 101 has an image search function, and in order to search for a desired moving image or still image, the display panel 102 displays moving images (still images related to frames) and still images one after another. It can be made. In FIG. 1, a flower image is displayed as an example of the display image 107.

  The jog dial 103 can rotate in either the clockwise direction (forward direction) or the counterclockwise direction (reverse direction). In this embodiment, the jog dial 103 is used to search for an image. That is, by rotating the jog dial 103 in the forward direction (clockwise), still images and moving images stored in the flash ROM 203 (see FIG. 2) can be displayed in the storage order (ascending order of shooting time). it can.

  On the other hand, by rotating the jog dial 103 in the reverse direction (counterclockwise), still images and moving images stored in the flash ROM 203 (see FIG. 2) are displayed in the reverse order of the storage (descending order of shooting time). Can do.

  The jog dial 103 is used as an operator for controlling a display image switching speed when searching for an image, that is, a search speed (browsing speed). That is, the jog dial 103 generates 24 trigger signals in one rotation. The CPU 204 shown in FIG. 2 calculates the rotational operation speed of the jog dial 103 based on this trigger signal, and switches the display image 107 at a switching speed corresponding to the rotational operation speed.

  Note that in this embodiment, the image display device 101 is assumed to be a portable and small-sized image display device, and the display panel 102 is small in size. The moving image is switched and displayed. In this switching display, the image may be switched instantaneously, or the image may be switched by moving the image leftward, rightward, upward, or downward.

  However, when the size of the display panel is large, still images and moving images may be displayed in units of a plurality of frames, and still images and moving images may be switched and displayed in units of a plurality of frames. In this case, even when multiple frames of still images and moving images are switched and displayed at once, or when multiple frames of still images and moving images are moved to the left, right, upward, or downward, they can be switched and displayed. May be.

  The jog dial 103 is provided with a playback button 104, a next step button 105, and a previous skip button 106. The play button 104 is used for playing back and displaying a moving image displayed on the display panel 102 for searching. The next step button 105 is used to display the next still image of the image being displayed on the display panel 102 or the first frame of the next moving image. The previous skip button 106 is used to display the first frame of the moving image being displayed on the display panel 102.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the image display apparatus 101 shown in FIG. The image display device 101 is configured by a computer and includes an input device 201, a DRAM 202, a flash ROM 203, a CPU 204, and a display device 205. These devices are connected by a system bus 206 so that control signals and data signals can be communicated with each other.

  The input device 201 has various operators such as operation buttons for operating a menu screen or the like displayed on the display panel 102, and operation signals from these operators are detected by the CPU 204. The jog dial 103, the reproduction button 104, the next step button 105, and the previous skip button 106 shown in FIG.

  The DRAM 202 is used as a main memory. The flash ROM 203 is a card-type removable memory and a rewritable memory. In the present embodiment, the flash ROM 203 stores a firmware program, a still image, a moving image, the display frame management table 301 in FIG.

  As the firmware program, a program according to the flowchart of FIG. 4 is also stored. Further, as the above-mentioned still image and moving image, those captured in the flash ROM 203 in various forms such as those taken with a digital camera or the like, downloaded with a personal computer via the Internet, and the like can be considered.

  The CPU 204 controls the overall operation of the image display apparatus 101. In this case, the CPU 204 controls various operations of the image display apparatus 101 by loading the firmware program stored in the flash ROM 603 into the DRAM 602 and executing it. The display device 205 has the display panel 102 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 shows the management data of the display frame management table 301 used when searching for a moving image. In this display frame management table 301, interval information 302 to the previous trigger signal and the number of frames 303 to be skipped are registered for each search speed (browsing speed) of “low speed”, “medium speed”, and “high speed”. Has been.

  The interval information 302 with the previous trigger signal indicates the detection time interval between the trigger signal detected last time from the jog dial 103 and the trigger signal detected this time. When this detection time interval is 1 second or more, the search speed is in the “low speed” stage, when it is within 1/12 to 1/24 seconds, the “medium speed” stage, and when it is 1/24 or less, it is “high speed” It is stipulated that it is a stage.

  As described above, since the jog dial 103 outputs 24 trigger signals by one rotation (360 ° rotation), one trigger signal is output every time the jog dial 103 is rotated by 15 °.

  Therefore, the stage of “low speed” in which the trigger signal interval time is 1 second or more corresponds to the case where the jog dial 103 is rotated by 15 ° over a time of 1 second or more. Further, the “medium speed” stage in which the trigger signal interval time is within 1/12 seconds to 1/24 seconds is when the jog dial 103 is rotated by 15 ° within 1/12 seconds to 1/24 seconds. Equivalent to. Further, the stage of “high speed” in which the trigger signal interval time is 1/24 seconds or less corresponds to the case where the jog dial 103 is rotated by 15 ° within 1/24 seconds.

  The frame number information 303 to be skipped is used as information for specifying a switching destination image when the next switching display image at the time of browsing is a moving image. Specifically, in the “low speed” stage, it is defined that the next image is skipped and switched to the next image.

  In the case of the “medium speed” stage, it skips to the 300th frame (300th frame), and in the case of the “high speed” stage, it skips to the 30th frame (30th frame). ).

  The specified content related to the skipped frame number information 303 is that the number of frames displayed per unit time (the number of images) increases as the browsing speed becomes “low”, “medium”, and “high”. Is meant to be.

If the next switching display image is a still image, that still image will always be displayed.
For a still image, data specifying the next switching display image is not registered in the display frame management table 301.

  Next, an image (still image, moving image) search process will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. Here, it is assumed that the flash ROM 203 stores still images and moving images in a mixed order in the shooting date and time (time). Further, the jog dial 103 is rotated in the forward direction (clockwise), and display images are switched in ascending order of shooting date and time at the time of retrieval. Further, in FIG. 4, processing when the playback button 104, the next step button 105, and the previous skip button 106 attached to the jog dial 103 are pressed is omitted.

  The CPU 204 determines whether or not a trigger signal from the jog dial 103 has been detected (step S401). When the trigger signal is not detected, the CPU 204 repeats the process of step S401. If a trigger signal is detected, the CPU 204 reads the previous trigger signal detection time from the DRAM 202 and calculates a difference from the current trigger signal detection time (step S402). Then, the CPU 204 stores the current trigger signal detection time in the DRAM 202 as the previous trigger signal detection time (step S403).

  Next, the CPU 204 determines whether or not the next image stored in the flash ROM 203 is a moving image (step S404). As a result, if the next stored image is not a moving image but a still image, the CPU 204 displays the next still image on the display panel 102 (step S405), and returns to step S401.

  On the other hand, if the next stored image is a moving image, the CPU 204 defines the difference between the detection time of the previous trigger signal and the current trigger signal related to the above calculation in the display frame management table 301 in FIG. It is discriminated which step corresponds to “low speed”, “medium speed”, or “high speed” (step S406).

  As a result, when it corresponds to the “low speed” stage, the CPU 204 determines whether or not the image (second image) stored in the flash ROM 203 next to the currently displayed image is a moving image. Is discriminated (step S407).

  As a result, if it is a moving image, the CPU 204 displays the first frame image of the moving image stored next determined in step S404 on the display panel 102 (step S408), and returns to step S401. With this process, in the “low speed” stage in which the jog dial 103 is rotated by 15 ° over a time of 1 second or longer, only the first frame image of the moving image is switched and displayed. On the other hand, if the second image is a still image, the CPU 204 displays the second still image on the display panel 102 (step S409) and returns to step S401.

  If the difference between the detection time of the previous trigger signal and the current trigger signal is at the “medium speed” stage defined in the display frame management table 301, the CPU 204 determines the remaining number of frames of the moving image being displayed on the display panel 102. It is determined whether or not there are more than “300” frames (step S410). As a result, if the remaining number of frames is “300” or less, the CPU 204 proceeds to step S407 described above.

  On the other hand, if the remaining number of frames is greater than the “300” frame, the CPU 204 skips to the frame that is later by the “300” frame (the one with the later shooting time), and displays the image of that frame (frame). (Step S411), and the process returns to Step S401.

  If the difference between the detection times of the previous trigger signal and the current trigger signal is at the “high speed” stage defined in the display frame management table 301, the CPU 204 determines that the remaining number of frames of the moving image being displayed on the display panel 102 is “ It is determined whether or not there are more than 30 frames (step S412). As a result, if the number of remaining frames is “30” frames or less, the CPU 204 proceeds to step S407 described above.

  On the other hand, if the remaining number of frames is greater than the “30” frame, the CPU 204 skips to the frame that is later by the “30” frame (the one with the later shooting time), and displays the image of that frame (frame). Then (step S413), the process returns to step S401.

  The above processing means that control is performed so that the number of moving image frames displayed on the display unit 102 is reduced when the search speed is low, and the moving image frame number displayed is increased as the speed increases. Further, the above processing means that the number of moving image frames increases as the length of the moving image increases at the “medium speed” and “high speed” stages.

  Thus, when an image search is performed while images stored in the flash ROM 203 are sequentially displayed on the display panel 102, a desired moving image can be searched as quickly as possible. In other words, when the moving image search speed is “medium speed” or “high speed”, it is possible to prevent a desired moving image from being missed as much as possible. Also, if the search speed of the video is “slow”, the possibility of missing the desired video is low, so only the top frame (frame) of the video is displayed and priority is given to those who eliminate the annoyance felt by the user is doing.

  In the image search process described above, the search speed is divided into three stages to control the number of display frames. However, the display frame number may be controlled to be divided into a plurality of other stages. Further, the difference between the detection times of the previous and current trigger signals when the search speed is divided into three stages is not limited to the above “1 second or more” or the like.

In addition, when searching for a moving image in the reverse method, the same effect can be obtained by the same method as in the case of the moving image search in the forward direction of FIG. However, when searching for a moving image in the reverse method, “after 300 frames” and “after 30 frames” in steps S411 and S413 mean the frame with the earlier shooting time.

  Next, functions of the playback button 104, the next step button 105, and the previous skip button 106 attached to the jog dial 103 will be described in detail.

  When the playback button 104 is pressed while a moving image is displayed on the display unit 102, that is, while searching for a moving image, the CPU 204 plays the moving image from the currently displayed frame of the moving image (second playback process). Further, when the previous skip button 106 is pressed while searching for a moving image, the CPU 204 displays an image of the first frame of the currently displayed moving image. When the playback button 104 is pressed immediately after the previous skip button 106 is pressed, the CPU 204 performs playback from the first frame of the currently displayed moving image (normal playback processing). Further, when the next skip button 105 is pressed while searching for a moving image, the CPU 204 displays the next still image or the first frame image of the moving image.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows a display form of an image search screen according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In the second embodiment, when a moving image is displayed on the display panel 102, the progress bar 108 shown in FIG. 5 is displayed to notify the user that the moving image is being displayed. On the progress bar 108, the CPU 204 displays a scale 108a indicating which position of the frame of the displayed image corresponds to the frame in the entire frame of the moving image.

  The progress bar 108 is not displayed when a still image is displayed. When the image search operation is not performed for a certain time (for example, 2 seconds) or longer, the CPU 204 hides the progress bar 108.

  If the forward image search process is started by operating the jog dial 103 in a state where the progress bar 108 is not displayed, the CPU 204 displays the progress bar 108 if the next image is a moving image. On the other hand, when starting the image search process in the reverse direction, the CPU 204 skips and displays the first frame of the moving image being displayed.

  The direction of the scale 108a on the progress bar 108 may be different or the same in the forward image search process and the backward image search process. .

  In addition, while displaying an image (frame) related to a moving image, the sound stored with the moving image can be reproduced at a speed corresponding to the moving image search speed in order to notify the user to that effect. It is.

  In this case, when searching for a still image, it is desirable to output an electronic sound (sound effect) such as “crisp” at the timing of switching and displaying the still image.

  Furthermore, in order to make it easy to discriminate between still images and moving images, the sound effect at the time of image switching is changed between moving images and still images, or symbols (icons, frames, etc.) representing whether the images are moving images or still images may be displayed. Is possible.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the first and second embodiments described above. For example, even when a moving image and a still image are not mixed and only a moving image is searched, The moving image search function of the second embodiment can be applied.

  It is also possible to mount the functions of the first and second embodiments on an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer. Furthermore, instead of the jog dial 103, for example, the display unit can be configured with a touch screen as a search operation means, and the search speed and the search direction can be instructed by touching the touch screen. Further, the search target can be not only image data but also audio data and text data.

  Furthermore, the object of the present invention is also achieved by a storage medium storing a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments. That is, this storage medium is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) 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 and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

  Moreover, the following can be used as a storage medium for supplying the program code. For example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like can be used. Further, optical disks such as CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, and the like can be used. Alternatively, the program code may be downloaded via a network.

  The present invention is not limited to the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer. In addition, for example, based on an instruction of the program code, an OS (operating system) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing. This is also included.

  Further, the function of each embodiment may be realized by writing the program code read from the storage medium into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. included. In this case, after the writing, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code.

1 is an external view of an image display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the image display apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the management data of the display frame management table used when searching a moving image. It is a flowchart which shows the search process of a still image and a moving image. It is a figure which shows the display form of the image search screen which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

101 ... Image display device 102 ... Display panel 103 ... Jog dial 104 ... Playback button 105 ... Next step button 106 ... Previous skip button 107 ... Display image 108 ... Progress bar 202 ... DRAM
203 ... Flash ROM
204 ... CPU
301: Display frame management table

Claims (12)

An image display device that sequentially displays images stored in a storage medium on a display unit according to an operation of a search operation unit,
Detecting means for detecting a search speed of the image by the search operation means;
Control means for controlling the switching speed of the image displayed on the display unit according to the stage of the search speed detected by the detection means,
The control means controls to reduce the number of moving image frames displayed on the display unit when the search speed is low, and to increase the moving image frame numbers as the speed increases. Image display device.   The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit includes a notification unit that notifies that the moving image is being displayed on the display unit.   The image display device according to claim 2, wherein the notification unit includes a progress bar displayed on the display unit.   The image display apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control unit displays the progress bar only when a moving image is displayed on the display unit.   The image display device according to claim 2, wherein the notification unit includes an output unit that outputs a sound attached to the moving image being displayed on the display unit.   The image display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the output unit outputs a sound attached to the moving image at the search speed or a speed corresponding to a stage of the search speed.   The image display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the output unit outputs a prescribed sound when a still image is displayed on the display unit.   5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising skip means for skipping to a still image to be displayed next on the display unit or an image of a top frame of the moving image to be displayed next while searching for a moving image by the search operation means. 2. The image display device according to 1.   The image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reproducing unit that reproduces an image of a top frame of the moving image being displayed on the display unit during the retrieval of the moving image by the search operation unit.   The image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second reproduction unit configured to reproduce from the image of the frame currently displayed on the display unit during the search of the moving image by the search operation unit. A control method for an image display device for sequentially displaying images stored in a storage medium on a display unit according to an operation of a search operation means,
A detection step of detecting a search speed of the image by the search operation means;
And a control step of controlling a switching speed of an image displayed on the display unit according to a search speed stage detected by the detection step,
In the control step, the number of moving image frames displayed on the display unit is reduced when the search speed is low, and the number of moving image frames is increased as the speed increases. A method for controlling an image display device.   A computer-readable program configured to execute the method for controlling an image display device according to claim 11.

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