JP2010016835A - Printer and electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of suppressing deterioration in image quality of a print image when printing a zoomed image or an image photographed while enhancing photographic sensitivity. <P>SOLUTION: The present invention relates to a printer for performing printing on the basis of image data of a photographed image, comprising: a photographic condition-detecting means 17 for detecting a photographic condition relating to image quality of the photographed image; a preprocessing means 17 for performing print preprocessing that is processing relating to image quality of a print image, before printing in accordance with the photographic condition relating to the image quality regarding the image data of the photographed image; and a print means 50 for performing printing on the basis of the image data on which print preprocessing has been performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer apparatus and an electronic camera provided with a print mechanism.

Currently, an electronic camera with a printing function for printing a photographed image on a self-developing film (printing paper) such as an instant film has been proposed. In an electronic camera having such a print function, a predetermined area of a photographed image can be trimmed for printing (print zoom) at the time of printing. In addition, the electronic camera can enlarge a predetermined area in the shooting screen by digital processing during shooting (shooting zoom). As described above, in the electronic camera with a print function, it is possible to enlarge an image (zoom processing) at the time of shooting and at the time of printing.

  However, in any of the zoom processes described above, the zoom process is performed using the image data before the zoom process, and thus the image after the zoom process is inferior to the image before the zoom process. Accordingly, when zoom processing is performed at the time of shooting and further zoom processing is performed at the time of printing, there is a case where the image quality of the printed image is greatly deteriorated due to the synergistic action of both.

  On the other hand, when the surroundings are dark, an electronic camera sometimes performs shooting by increasing the gain of a signal output from the image sensor, that is, by increasing shooting sensitivity (ISO sensitivity).

  However, when shooting is performed with an increased ISO sensitivity, the noise component increases as well as the signal component. Therefore, when an image shot with an increased ISO sensitivity is printed, the influence of noise becomes larger than when an image obtained by normal shooting is printed, and the image quality of the printed image may deteriorate.

  As described above, when both the shooting zoom processing and the print zoom processing are performed, or when an image shot with increased shooting sensitivity is printed, there is a problem that the image quality of the print image is deteriorated from the desired image quality.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional problems, and it is possible to suppress degradation of the image quality of a print image when printing an image subjected to zoom processing or an image shot with increased shooting sensitivity. An object of the present invention is to provide a printer device and an electronic camera.

  A printer apparatus according to the present invention is a printer apparatus that performs printing based on image data of a photographed image, a photographing condition detection unit that detects a photographing condition related to the image quality of the photographed image, and a photographed image. Pre-printing means for performing pre-printing processing, which is processing related to the image quality of the print image before printing, in accordance with the shooting conditions related to the image quality, and printing for printing based on the pre-printed image data Means.

  An electronic camera according to the present invention is an electronic camera including the printer device and an electronic imaging unit, and prints an image photographed by the electronic imaging unit using the printer device.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress deterioration of the image quality of a printed image by performing processing corresponding to the processing conditions on an image captured by performing processing such as zoom processing and shooting sensitivity increase. It becomes possible.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an electronic camera with a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the electronic camera with a printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the electronic camera with a printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the electronic camera with a printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. The figure which showed the relationship between imaging | photography zoom magnification and print zoom magnification in the operation | movement shown in FIG.

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

(Device configuration)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an electronic camera with a printer according to the present embodiment.
The basic configuration of the imaging unit is the same as that of a normal electronic camera, and includes a lens system 11, a CCD (imaging device) 12, and an A / D conversion / imaging circuit 13. That is, the subject image formed by the lens system 11 is photoelectrically converted by the CCD 12 and the photoelectrically converted image signal is input to the A / D conversion / imaging circuit 13 so that a digitally converted image signal is obtained. It has become. The A / D conversion / imaging circuit 13 has a function of changing the gain of the analog image signal output from the CCD 12, that is, changing the ISO sensitivity. The lens of the lens system 11 is driven by a driver 15 based on the control of the controller 14, and the controller 14 also controls the strobe 16.

  System control of the entire electronic camera is performed by the RISC CPU 17 functioning as a main CPU, and a program for controlling the entire system is stored in a ROM (flash ROM) 18. Each part of the electronic camera is connected via a bus 19 or the like.

  Also, the RISC / CPU 17 takes a picture such as a function for removing image noise, a zoom processing function (shooting zoom and print zoom), and header information of image data (information on ISO sensitivity at the time of shooting, information on the zoom magnification at the time of shooting). Various functions such as a function for analyzing information), a function for changing the noise removal capability according to the ISO sensitivity, and a function for performing a trimming process with a print zoom magnification limited according to the shooting zoom magnification. It has a function.

  The output of the A / D conversion / imaging circuit 13 is input to the ASIC unit 20, and various image processing, JPEG compression / decompression processing, and the like are performed by the ASIC unit 20. The ASIC unit 20 includes an SRAM 21 to which an image signal from the A / D conversion / imaging circuit 13 is input, an encoder circuit 22 that encodes a signal from the SRAM 21, and a D / A conversion circuit that converts the signal from the encoder circuit 22 into an analog signal. 23, a timing generator 24 for generating various timings of the A / D conversion / imaging circuit 13, a signal processor 25 and an AF / AE / AWB integrator 26 for performing AF processing, AE processing and AWB processing, and an SDRAM described later. The SDRAM controller 27, a JPEG controller 28 for performing compression / decompression processing, a JPEG compression / decompression circuit 29, a UART 30 and a PIO 31 functioning as an interface, and the like.

  An SDRAM 32 controlled by the SDRAM controller 27 is connected to the ASIC unit 20, and the SDRAM 32 has a function as a buffer memory.

  In addition, a CPU 33 is connected to the ASIC unit 20 via a PIO 31, and an EPROM 34 is connected to the CPU 33. The CPU 33 functions as a sub CPU, and includes a function for determining input from the operation unit 35 (including a release button, a print button, a mode selection switch, and the like), a control function for a power supply unit, a clock function, and the like.

  As a power source of the electronic camera, an external power source connected via an external power source terminal 37 can be used in addition to the camera battery 36, and the voltage of the camera battery 36 or the external power source is changed to a DC / DC converter 38. And the power is supplied to each part of the electronic camera. Further, the voltage of the camera battery 36 can be detected by a voltage detector 39.

  The output of the D / A conversion circuit 23 of the ASIC unit 20 is input to the LCD driver 40, and a captured image or the like is displayed on the LCD display 41 by the LCD driver 40. The output of the D / A conversion circuit 23 is also input to the Y-C mix circuit 42, the output from the Y-C mix circuit 42 is sent to the driver 43, and the output from the driver 43 passes through the video out terminal 44. Can be sent to the outside.

  A driver 45 is connected to the ASIC unit 20 via the UART 30 so that communication with an external device can be performed via the serial interface terminal 46 for RS232C.

  A card interface unit 47 is connected to the bus 19, and image information is written to the memory card and image information is read from the memory card via the card interface unit 47.

  The above description mainly relates to the camera unit of the electronic camera with printer. Next, the printer unit 50 provided in the electronic camera with printer will be described.

  The printer unit 50 is connected to the bus 19 and transmits and receives image data and the like to and from the camera unit via the I / O conversion unit 51. A RISC / CPU 52 is connected to the I / O conversion unit 51, and each unit of the printer unit 50 is controlled by the RISC / CPU 52.

  A self-developing film such as an instant film is used for printing by the printer unit 50, and a plurality of films are stored in a removable cartridge (film pack). The cartridge is provided with a film battery 53, and the film battery 53 is connected to a DC / DC converter 54. The DC / DC converter 54 is also connected to the power supply of the camera unit.

  When printing, a liquid crystal shutter (LCS) 56 is driven by a driver 55, an LED 58 is driven by a driver 57, and a motor 60 for film feeding is driven by a driver 59, whereby an image is printed on the film in units of one line. The The liquid crystal shutter 56 is formed with a plurality of shutter portions for one line, and LEDs 58 (three primary colors of R, G, and B) are provided in an array corresponding to each shutter portion. By controlling the opening time of each shutter portion of the liquid crystal shutter 56 based on the image information, the exposure amount by the light from each LED 58 is changed, and an image is formed line by line on the film.

  Further, the printer unit 50 includes an encoder 61 and a sensor unit 62, and various information such as detection of a film conveyance state and a film position is acquired by these.

(Operation)
The operation of the electronic camera with a printer according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation when the print mode is set.

  First, the presence or absence of a film is confirmed (S1), and if it is determined that there is no film (S2), a warning display indicating that there is no film is displayed on the LCD display 41 (S3). If it is determined that there is a film, an image for one frame is displayed on the LCD display 41 (S4).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not various processing buttons have been pressed (S5). When the various processing buttons are pressed, various processing described later (here, mainly processing related to shooting zoom and print zoom) is performed. Performed (S6). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the print button has been pressed (S7). If the print button is pressed, a print operation (noise removal processing according to ISO sensitivity, actual print execution processing, etc.) described later is performed. Performed (S8).

  Thereafter, when the frame change button is pressed (S9), the frame displayed on the LCD display 41 is changed (S10), and the process returns to the step of S4. When the mode is changed (S11), the process proceeds to the process of another changed mode (S12).

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing detailed operations of various processes (S6) shown in the flowchart of FIG. In this example, the magnification of the photographic zoom (digital tele) is set to three times of 1, 2 and 3 times, and the magnification of the print zoom is 1 time, 1.5 times, 2 times, 2.5 times and 3 times. It is assumed that each can be set in five ways.

  First, header information of image data is read (S21), and the header information is analyzed (S22). Based on the header information, it is determined whether or not the image is shot with the shooting zoom turned off (1 ×) (S23). If not, the image is shot with the shooting zoom of 2 ×. It is determined whether or not (S24).

  If the shooting zoom is an image taken at 2 times, it is prohibited to set the zoom magnification of the print zoom to 3 times or more (S25). Otherwise, that is, an image taken at a shooting zoom of 3 times. In this case, it is prohibited to set the zoom magnification of the print zoom to 2 or more (S26). In this manner, a setting instruction for the print zoom magnification is issued in a state in which the restriction according to the magnification of the photographing zoom is provided (S27).

  FIG. 5 shows print zoom magnifications that can be set according to the shooting zoom magnification in this setting instruction operation. As can be seen from this figure, all five print zoom magnifications can be set for an image shot with the shooting zoom magnification off (× 1), but the shooting zoom magnification is double (× 2). ) Is prohibited from being set to 3 times the print zoom magnification for images taken in (), and is set to at least 2 times the print zoom magnification for images taken at 3 (× 3) shooting zoom magnification. Is prohibited. That is, the product of the shooting zoom magnification and the print zoom magnification is not 6 or more, and a print zoom magnification setting instruction that is 6 or more is not accepted.

  In this way, in this example, the settable range of the print zoom magnification is limited according to the shooting zoom magnification. Therefore, the synergistic effect of the image quality deterioration in the shooting zoom processing and the image quality deterioration in the print zoom processing causes the print image to be printed. The problem that the image quality is greatly degraded can be avoided in advance.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of the printing operation (S8) shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  First, header information of image data is read (S31), and the header information is analyzed (S32). Based on the header information, it is determined whether or not the ISO sensitivity is an image photographed in a normal state (for example, ISO sensitivity 100) (S33). If not, the ISO sensitivity is increased by one level (for example, It is determined whether or not the image is taken with ISO sensitivity 200) (S34).

  In the case of an image shot with ISO sensitivity increased by one step, noise removal processing with relatively weak removal capability (low) is performed (S35). Otherwise, the ISO sensitivity is two steps or more. In the case of an image taken with an up (for example, ISO sensitivity of 400 or higher), a noise removal process with a relatively strong (high) removal capability is performed (S36).

  After step S33, S35 or S36, processing necessary for executing printing such as color conversion processing (color conversion from YUV to RGB) is performed (S37), and an actual printing operation is executed (S38). ).

  Examples of the noise removal processing described above include low-pass filter type noise removal processing and dot correlation detection type noise removal processing.

  The low-pass filter method improves the S / N ratio by performing low-pass filter processing on each of the luminance component and the color component by utilizing the fact that noise components are generally distributed in the high-frequency region. is there. In this case, increasing (decreasing) the noise removal capability corresponds to setting the cut-off frequency of the low-pass filter low. The low-pass filter method has the advantage that the processing time can be made almost constant regardless of the strength of the processing, but the high-frequency component is cut uniformly, so the resolution of the image itself is poor and the resolution increases as the processing capability increases. There is a disadvantage that the image feeling deteriorates.

  The dot correlation detection method uses the fact that noise components generally appear randomly, and performs matrix processing on each of the luminance and color components to identify the noise component from the correlation between adjacent pixel components. The S / N ratio is improved by attenuating the specified component, and is usually used in combination with the low-pass filter method. In this case, increasing (decreasing) the noise removal capability corresponds to grasping the correlation in a wider range, that is, increasing the number of pixels for examining the correlation. The dot correlation detection method has the advantage of removing noise components without degrading the resolution compared to the low-pass filter method, but the processing scale is large and the processing time is long, and the processing time is proportional to the noise removal capability. Has the disadvantage of increasing.

  As described above, the noise is reduced as the noise removal capability is increased. However, on the other hand, problems such as deterioration in resolution and increase in processing time occur. In this example, the noise removal capability is changed in accordance with the ISO sensitivity when removing the noise component that increases with the increase in ISO sensitivity at the time of shooting, so that the above-described problems can be effectively avoided. Noise components can be reduced, and deterioration of the image quality of the printed image can be suppressed.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

11 ... Lens system 12 ... CCD
13 ... A / D conversion / imaging circuit 14 ... Controller 15 ... Driver 16 ... Strobe 17 ... RISC / CPU 18 ... ROM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 19 ... Bus 20 ... ASIC part 21 ... SRAM 22 ... Encoder circuit 23 ... D / A conversion circuit 24 ... Timing generator 25 ... Signal processor 26 ... AF / AE / AWB integrator 27 ... SDRAM controller 28 ... JPEG controller 29 ... JPEG compression Expansion circuit 30 ... UART
31 ... PIO 32 ... SDRAM
33 ... CPU 34 ... EPROM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 35 ... Operation part 36 ... Camera battery 37 ... External power supply terminal 38 ... DC / DC converter 39 ... Voltage detection part 40 ... LCD driver 41 ... LCD display 42 ... Y-C mix circuit 43 ... Driver 44 ... Video out terminal 45 ... Driver 46 ... Serial I / F terminal 47 ... Card I / F unit 50 ... Printer unit 51 ... I / O conversion unit 52 ... RISC / CPU 53 ... Film battery 54 ... DC / DC converter 55 ... Driver 56 ... Liquid crystal shutter 57 ... Driver 58 ... LED 59 ... Driver 60 ... Motor 61 ... Encoder 62 ... Sensor part

Claims (6)

A printer device that performs printing based on image data of a captured image,
Shooting condition detection means for detecting shooting conditions relating to the image quality of the shot image;
Pre-processing means for performing pre-printing processing, which is processing related to the image quality of a print image before printing, in accordance with the shooting conditions related to the image quality of the image data of the captured image;
A printer device comprising: printing means for performing printing based on pre-printed image data. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographing condition detection unit detects the photographing condition related to the image quality from information attached to image data. The shooting condition detecting means detects shooting sensitivity at the time of shooting an image shot as a shooting condition related to the image quality,
The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preprocessing unit performs noise removal processing on the image data according to the photographing sensitivity before printing. 4. The printer apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the preprocessing means increases a noise removal capability for the image data having a relatively high photographing sensitivity. The shooting condition detecting means detects a use condition of the shooting zoom at the time of shooting an image shot as the shooting condition related to the image quality, and enlarges the size of the image printed on the print paper according to the magnification. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means and a print zoom control means for controlling the print zoom means so as to limit enlargement of a predetermined magnification or more in accordance with a use condition of the photographing zoom. Printer device. An electronic camera comprising the printer device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and electronic imaging means,
An electronic camera, wherein an image photographed by the electronic imaging means is printed by the printer device.

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