JP2011066746A - Imaging apparatus, and image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus and an image display device which easily recognize an image photographed on a specific day and further and simultaneously present information associated with the specific day. <P>SOLUTION: To solve the above problem, the imaging apparatus 100 is provided with: imaging units 1, 2 for generating image data of an object; a date addition unit 7 for adding a photographing date to the image data; a display unit 150 for displaying a calendar; a selection unit 6 for selecting a date on the calendar; an information addition unit 6 for adding information relevant to the selected date; and a control unit 7 for displaying, on the display unit 150, the image based on the image data at a position corresponding to the photographing date on the calendar, and displaying the information relevant to the selected date at a position corresponding to the selected date on the calendar. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and an image display apparatus that can display an image in association with a calendar.

  As the capacity of memory cards has increased, the number of images that can be stored on a single memory card has increased dramatically. An imaging device such as a digital camera can display an image stored in a memory card.

  Also, many photo viewers have a built-in HDD, and can store more images than a memory card. Furthermore, recently, photo frames have been widely used. The photo frame can display an image stored in a memory card attached to the card slot.

  As described above, when the number of images that can be handled by the imaging device or the image display device increases, it becomes difficult to search for a desired image.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 proposes a graphical user interface device that displays a thumbnail of an image at a position in a calendar corresponding to a date associated with the image. In the graphical user interface device described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to easily recognize an image taken on a specific day.

JP 2004-213631 A

  However, although the technique described in Patent Document 1 can easily recognize an image taken on a specific day, it cannot simultaneously obtain information associated with the specific day.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging device and an image display device that can easily recognize an image taken on a specific day and can simultaneously present information associated with the specific day. To do.

  In order to solve the above problems, an imaging apparatus of the present invention includes an imaging unit that generates image data of a subject, a date adding unit that adds a shooting date to the image data, a display unit that displays a calendar, and the calendar. A selection means for selecting an upper date, an information addition means for adding information related to the selected date, and an image based on the image data corresponding to the shooting date on the calendar with respect to the display means And a control means for displaying information related to the selected date.

  The image display device of the present invention includes a reading unit that reads image data to which a shooting date is added, a display unit that displays a calendar, a selection unit that selects a date on the calendar, and a date that is selected. Information adding means for adding related information, and causing the display means to display an image based on the image data at a position corresponding to the shooting date on the calendar, and information related to the selected date And a control means for displaying.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the image based on the image data is displayed at the position corresponding to the shooting date on the calendar, and the information related to the selected date is displayed. The image can be easily recognized, and information associated with a specific day can be presented at the same time.

1 is a rear view of a digital camera 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of a digital camera 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Conceptual diagram showing the structure of an Exif format image file Figure showing an example of a calendar screen Figure showing an example of the menu screen Figure showing an example of the input screen Figure showing an example of a calendar screen Figure showing an example of a calendar screen Figure showing an example of the search screen Diagram showing an example of a multi-display screen The figure which shows an example of one piece display screen

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(1. Configuration)
(1-1. Appearance)
A configuration of the digital camera 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a rear view of a digital camera 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the digital camera 100 is provided with a power switch 122, a MENU button 123, a SET button 124, cross keys 125a, 125b, 125c, 125d, and an LCD 150 on the back surface. In addition, a mode dial 120 and a shutter button 121 are provided on the upper surface of the digital camera 100.

When the power switch 122 is slid to the ON side, the digital camera 100 is turned on. The mode dial 120 is rotated to select a desired shooting mode. Since the subject is displayed on the LCD 150, the composition is determined while observing the subject. When the shutter button 121 is pressed, the image of the subject is recorded as an image file. In the header of the image file, information attached to the image data such as the shooting date and time and the shooting mode is described.
(1-2. Block configuration)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the digital camera 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The digital camera 100 includes an imaging optical system 1 that forms an optical image of a subject, a CCD 2 that converts an optical image formed by the imaging optical system 1 into an electrical signal, and an electrical signal that is converted by the CCD 2 into a digital signal. An A / D converter 3, an image processing unit 4 that performs predetermined signal processing on the digital signal converted by the A / D converter 3 to generate image data, and an image generated by the image processing unit 4 A storage unit 5 that stores data, an LCD 150 that displays an image based on the image data generated by the image processing unit 4 and a calendar screen, a menu screen, an input screen, a search screen, a multi-display screen, and a single display screen; An operation unit 6 that gives an instruction to the camera 100 and a control unit 7 that controls the image processing unit 4 in accordance with the instruction given from the operation unit 6 are provided.

The storage unit 5 includes a memory card 5b that is a storage medium that is detachable from the input / output unit 5a. The operation unit 6 corresponds to the MENU button 123, the SET button 124, and the cross keys 125a, 125b, 125c, and 125d in the rear view of the digital camera 100 shown in FIG.
(1-3. Image file format)
The digital camera 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention records an image file in accordance with an Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format) format.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of an image file in the Exif format. In the Exif format, a header part is added to the image data. In the header part, a thumbnail image of image data and attribute information are described. The attribute information includes information accompanying the image data such as the shooting date and time and the shooting mode.
(2. Operation)
(2-1. Date related information input)
When the MENU button 123 is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a calendar screen. Since there are images taken on the 8th, 17th, and 29th, they are displayed at corresponding positions. The control unit 7 displays these images at corresponding positions based on the shooting date and time described in the header portion of the image file. The image is displayed using the thumbnail image described in the header part. At this time, the thumbnail image may be enlarged or reduced according to the size of the corresponding position.

  When there are a plurality of images taken on the same day, an image taken at the beginning or end of the day may be displayed, or an image having a high evaluation value may be displayed by evaluating image data. Or you may display the image by which the person was image | photographed using the face recognition function. Further, a plurality of images may be displayed, and at that time, a part of the plurality of images may be overlapped and displayed. Further, the day may be subdivided into morning and afternoon or more, and images taken in each time zone may be displayed.

  FIG. 4 shows a state where 8th day is selected. When the left and right buttons 125a and 125c of the cross key are pressed, the selected date can be changed. The month can be changed by pressing the up / down buttons 125b and 125d of the cross key.

  In FIG. 4, a monthly calendar screen is shown. However, the calendar screen may be a week unit or may display a plurality of months collectively.

  When the SET button 124 is pressed in the state shown in FIG. 4, the menu screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu screen. Digital camera 100 according to the present embodiment can perform “title input” and “title search”. “Title search” will be described later, and “title input” will be described here.

  When the up and down buttons 125b and 125d of the cross key are pressed, the functions of “title input” and “title search” can be switched. FIG. 5 shows a state in which “Title input” is selected. When the left button 125c of the cross key is pressed, it is possible to return to the calendar screen shown in FIG.

  When the SET button 124 is pressed in the state shown in FIG. 5, the input screen shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the input screen. Since 8th day is selected in FIG. 4 and “Title input” is selected in FIG. 5, “Title input” can be performed for 8th day on the input screen shown in FIG.

  An outline of the input screen shown in FIG. 6 will be described. When a character to be input is selected and determined from the second field 502, the first field 501 is reflected.

  When the left and right buttons 125a and 125c of the cross key are pressed, the selected character can be changed. In the state shown in FIG. 6, the lowercase letter “o” is selected. The character type can be switched by pressing the up and down buttons 125b and 125d of the cross key. FIG. 6 shows a state where “alphanumeric characters” is selected as the character type, but in addition to “alphanumeric characters”, any one of “Hiragana”, “Katakana”, and “symbol” can be selected.

  When the SET button 124 is pressed, the character selected in the second field 502 is reflected in the underlined portion of the first field 501. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the lowercase letter “o” is reflected in the first field 501 by pressing the SET button 124 while the lowercase letter “o” is selected. The underlined portion indicates the next inputable position.

  Since various methods have been proposed for inputting characters, an input method suitable for the configuration of the operation unit 6 included in the digital camera 100 may be employed, and the above method is not necessarily required. Further, a kana-kanji conversion function, a learning function, a personal name dictionary, a place name dictionary, and the like may be provided.

  When the MENU button 123 is pressed on the input screen shown in FIG. 6, the character string “Kyoto” in the first field 501 is associated with the date of 8th and stored in the memory in the control unit 7. Then, the calendar screen shown in FIG. 7 is displayed again. On the calendar screen shown in FIG. 7, a related display 701 indicating that the date of 8th is associated with the character string “Kyoto” is displayed for 2 seconds and then disappears.

In the digital camera 100 according to the present embodiment, an example in which one character string is associated with one date is shown. However, by selecting a plurality of dates on the calendar screen shown in FIG. A single character string may be associated with.
(2-2. Date related information display)
In the state shown in FIG. 7, after the related display 701 disappears, the screen is the same as the calendar screen shown in FIG. However, in the digital camera 100, the character string “Kyoto” is stored in the memory in the control unit 7 in association with the date of 8th.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a calendar screen. In FIG. 8, the 17th day is selected. However, since there is no character string associated with the date of 17th, the related information is not displayed. Here, when 8th day is selected by pressing the left and right buttons 125a and 125c of the cross key a plurality of times, a relationship indicating that the date of 8th and the character string “Kyoto” are associated as in FIG. The display 701 is displayed for 2 seconds and then disappears. At this time, the control unit 7 reads the character string associated with the selected date from the memory in the control unit 7 and displays it as the related display 701.

  Thus, the user can know that the date of 8th is associated with the character string “Kyoto”. In many cases, the character string “Kyoto” will indicate that the image taken on the 8th was taken in “Kyoto”, but the input character string is not related to the shooting location. May be. For example, it may be a character string indicating a photographer or a character string indicating a subject to be photographed.

  In the digital camera 100 according to the present embodiment, the related display 701 is displayed for 2 seconds and then disappears. However, the related display 701 may be continuously displayed until another date is selected. . Further, it may be always displayed by an icon at a position corresponding to the selected date that there is a character string associated with the selected date. The related display 701 may be a floating display so as not to overlap with neighboring images and dates. Here, the floating display refers to a display method in which nearby images and dates are recognized and the display position is appropriately changed so as not to overlap them. Alternatively, the related display 701 may be translucent. When the character string of the related display 701 is long, it may be displayed while scrolling. The related display 701 may be displayed at a fixed position regardless of the selected date.

In the digital camera 100 according to the present embodiment, the character string “Kyoto” is stored in the memory in the control unit 7 in association with the date of 8th. However, the character string “Kyoto” is captured on the 8th. It may be described in the header portion of the image file. When there are a plurality of images taken on the 8th, the character string “Kyoto” may be described in the header portion of all image files, or the characters are displayed only in the header portion of the image file of the image displayed on the calendar screen. The column “Kyoto” may be described. Since the shooting date and time is described in the header portion of the image file, the date and information related to the date are described in the header portion of the image file. Alternatively, the character string “Kyoto” may be associated with the date of 8th and recorded as a new file on the memory card 5b.
(2-3. Date related information search)
An operation when “title search” is selected on the menu screen shown in FIG. 5 will be described. In the menu screen shown in FIG. 5, “Title search” can be selected by pressing the down button 125 d of the cross key. When the SET button 124 is pressed with “Title search” selected, a search screen shown in FIG. 9 is displayed.

  The control unit 7 reads the character string associated with the date from the memory in the control unit 7 and displays a list on the LCD 150 together with the associated date. A black triangle 901 indicates that there is a character string associated with the date before “Tokyo May 5, 2009”, and a white triangle 902 indicates “Osaka August 20, 2009”. ”Indicates that there is no character string associated with the date. FIG. 9 shows a state where “Kyoto June 8, 2009” is selected. When the up / down buttons 125b and 125d of the cross key are pressed, the combination of the selected character string and date can be changed.

  When the SET button 124 is pressed on the search screen shown in FIG. 9, a multi-display screen shown in FIG. 10 is displayed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a multi-display screen. In the upper part, a combination of the selected character string and date, that is, “Kyoto June 8, 2009” is displayed. It can be seen that there are two images taken on that day.

  In FIG. 10, an upper left image in which a night view and a person are photographed is selected. By pressing the left and right buttons 125a and 125c of the cross key, the selected image can be changed. The date can be changed by pressing the up / down buttons 125b and 125d of the cross key. When the up button 125b of the cross key is pressed, a multi-display screen on June 7, 2009 is displayed. On the other hand, when the down button 125d of the cross key is pressed, a multi display screen on June 9, 2009 is displayed.

  When the SET button 124 is pressed on the multi-display screen shown in FIG. 10, the single-image display screen shown in FIG. 11 is displayed. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a single image display screen. In the lower part, a combination of the selected character string and date, that is, “Kyoto June 8, 2009” is displayed.

  In digital camera 100 according to the present embodiment, when the SET button 124 is pressed on the search screen shown in FIG. 9, the multi-display screen shown in FIG. 10 is displayed, and the SET button is displayed on the multi-display screen shown in FIG. When the user presses 124, the one-screen display screen shown in FIG. 11 is displayed. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the SET button 124 is pressed on the search screen shown in FIG. 9, the calendar screen shown in FIG. 7 is displayed, and when the SET button 124 is pressed on the calendar screen shown in FIG. 7, the multi-display screen shown in FIG. A single image display screen shown in FIG. 11 may be displayed.

  Further, in the digital camera 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the SET button 124 is pressed in the menu screen shown in FIG. 5 with “Title search” selected, the search screen shown in FIG. 9 is displayed. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the menu screen shown in FIG. 5, when the SET button 124 is pressed with “Title Search” selected, the input screen shown in FIG. 6 is displayed, and the character string to be searched is input on the input screen shown in FIG. 6. Then, when the SET button 124 is pressed, a multi-display screen for dates associated with the input character string or a calendar screen with the input character string selected may be displayed.

  As described above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the digital camera 100 which is an imaging apparatus has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to an image display apparatus such as a photo viewer or a photo frame. Since the shooting date and time is usually described in the header of the image file, display means capable of displaying a calendar, selection means for selecting a date on the calendar, and information related to the selected date are displayed. Information adding means to be added, and control means for causing the display means to display an image based on the image data at a position corresponding to the shooting date on the calendar and to display information related to the selected date. Just do it.

  According to the present invention, an image taken on a specific day can be easily recognized, and information associated with a specific day can be presented at the same time. The present invention is useful when applied to an imaging device such as a mobile phone, or an image display device such as a photo viewer or a photo frame.

1 Lens 2 CCD
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 AD converter 4 Image processing part 5 Data storage part 5a Input / output part 5b Memory card 6 Operation part 7 Control part 8 Operation part 100 Digital camera 120 Mode dial 121 Shutter button 122 Power switch 123 MENU button 124 SET button 125 Cross key 125a Right button 125b Up button 125c Left button 125d Down button 150 LCD

Claims (2)

Imaging means for generating image data of a subject;
Date adding means for adding a shooting date to the image data;
Display means for displaying a calendar;
Selecting means for selecting a date on the calendar;
Information adding means for adding information related to the selected date;
Control means for causing the display means to display an image based on the image data at a position corresponding to the shooting date on the calendar, and to display information related to the selected date;
An imaging apparatus comprising: A reading means for reading image data to which a shooting date is added;
Display means for displaying a calendar;
Selecting means for selecting a date on the calendar;
Information adding means for adding information related to the selected date;
Control means for causing the display means to display an image based on the image data at a position corresponding to the shooting date on the calendar, and to display information related to the selected date;
An image display device comprising:

Images