JP2015070586A - Image-capturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent operation mistake that captured image data is stored in an external recording medium with not intended size, for example, the captured image data being stored in a memory card with a wireless communication function with so large data size as unsuitable for wireless transfer.SOLUTION: An image-capturing device is configured of: a plurality of interface units to which an external recording medium can be connected; determination means for determining a type of the external recording medium connected to each interface unit; storage size determination means for determining a size of captured imaged data to be stored in the external recording medium connected to each interface unit, according to the type determined by the determination unit; and storage means for storing the captured image data in the external storage medium connected to each interface unit with a storage size determined by the storage size determination unit.

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus including a plurality of interface units to which an external storage medium such as a memory card can be connected.

  2. Description of the Related Art An imaging device such as a camera is known that has a plurality of slots (so-called double slots) into which an external storage medium such as a memory card can be mounted. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a specific configuration of a photographing apparatus having a double slot.

  The photographing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 checks the storage capacity of the external storage medium mounted in each slot, and sets the larger storage capacity as the storage destination medium when the moving image mode is designated. When the recording destination medium runs out of free space during recording of a moving image, the photographing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 switches the storage destination medium to an external storage medium mounted in the other slot and continues recording of the moving image. As a result, it is possible to avoid interruption of movie shooting due to the media full, and it is possible to shoot without missing a valuable shooting opportunity.

JP 2007-174893 A

  A memory card having a wireless communication function such as an Eye-Fi (registered trademark) card (hereinafter referred to as a “wireless communication memory card”) is known as one of external storage media that can be attached to a photographing apparatus. This type of wireless communication memory card automatically transfers an image stored at the time of shooting to a designated external device. For this reason, the wireless communication memory card takes the load of traffic when transferring to an external device and the display conditions (image size that can be displayed, file size that can be processed, etc.) in the external device, etc. It is desirable to store the data after reducing it to a data size smaller than the size of the file.

  Consider a case in which the user uses a wireless communication memory card and a memory card that does not have a wireless communication function (hereinafter referred to as “normal memory card”) in the photographing apparatus described in Patent Document 1. In this case, it is desirable that the size of the captured image data stored in each memory card is set appropriately according to the type of memory card. For example, even if the captured image data is set to be stored in the normal memory card at the shooting size, the wireless communication memory card has a reduced size of the captured image data for the above reason. It is desirable to set so that it is stored in

  However, when the user replaces the wireless communication memory card or the normal memory card with another memory card, the user may forget to set the storage size of the captured image data to a data size suitable for the replaced memory card. As a result, for example, the captured image data is stored in a reduced size in a normal memory card, or the captured image data is stored in a wireless communication memory card at the size at the time of shooting (for example, a large data size unsuitable for wireless transfer). The inconvenience of being stored occurs.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a photographing apparatus suitable for storing photographed image data with an appropriate size according to the type of external storage medium. It is.

  An imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of interface units to which an external storage medium can be connected, a determination unit that determines the type of external storage medium connected to each interface unit, and a connection to each interface unit. A storage size determination unit that determines the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium according to the type determined by the determination unit, and a storage size determination unit that determines the captured image data in the external storage medium connected to each interface unit. Storage means for storing the data in the stored size.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the storage size of the captured image data is automatically determined to be suitable for the type of the external storage medium, and then the captured image data is stored in the external storage medium. Since it is not necessary for the user to individually set the size of the captured image data for each external storage medium, an operation error that the captured image data is stored in an unintended size in the external storage medium does not occur.

  For example, when the external storage medium is a memory card that does not have a wireless communication function, the storage size determination unit determines the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium as the first storage size, and the external storage medium Is a memory card having a wireless communication function, the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium is determined as the second storage size.

  The initial value of the second storage size is, for example, smaller than the initial value of the first storage size.

  The second storage size may be determined to be always smaller than the first storage size.

  An imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an interface unit to which an external storage medium can be connected, a determination unit that determines the type of the external storage medium connected to the interface unit, and an external storage medium connected to the interface unit. A storage size determination unit that determines the size of the captured image data to be stored according to the type determined by the determination unit, and a storage size determined by the storage size determination unit in the external storage medium connected to the interface unit. Storage means for storing. The storage size determining means determines the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium as the first storage size when the external storage medium is a memory card that does not have a wireless communication function, and the external storage medium is wireless When the memory card has a communication function, the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium is determined as the second storage size.

  The photographing apparatus may include a setting unit that sets whether to perform the determination process by the determination unit. In this case, the storage size determination unit is configured to store the captured image data stored in the external storage medium regardless of the type of the external storage medium connected to the interface unit when the setting unit is set not to perform the determination process. Determine the size as the first storage size.

  An imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an interface unit to which an external storage medium can be connected, a determination unit that determines the type of the external storage medium connected to the interface unit, and an external storage medium connected to the interface unit. Saved size determining means for determining the size of captured image data to be stored according to the type determined by the determining means, and shooting stored in the external storage medium when the external storage medium is a memory card that does not have a wireless communication function Storage size storage means for storing the size of image data and the size of captured image data stored in the external storage medium when the external storage medium is a memory card having a wireless communication function.

  According to the present embodiment, there is provided a photographing apparatus suitable for storing photographed image data with an appropriate size according to the type of external storage medium.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the imaging device of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the preservation | save flow of the picked-up image data in embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, a digital single lens reflex camera will be described as an embodiment of the present invention. Note that the photographing device is not limited to a digital single lens reflex camera, but includes, for example, a mirrorless single lens camera, a compact digital camera, a camcorder, a tablet terminal, a PHS (Personal Handy phone System), a smartphone, a feature phone, a portable game machine, and the like. It may be replaced with another form of device having

[Configuration of the photographing apparatus 1]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the photographing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the photographing apparatus 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 100, an operation unit 102, a diaphragm / shutter driving circuit 104, a photographing lens 106, a diaphragm 108, a shutter 110, an image sensor 112, and a signal processing circuit 114. An image processing engine 116, a buffer memory 118, card interfaces 120A and 120B, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) control circuit 122, an LCD 124, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 126.

  The operation unit 102 includes various switches necessary for the user to operate the photographing apparatus 1, such as a power switch, a release switch, and a photographing mode switch. When the user presses the power switch, power is supplied from the battery (not shown) to the various circuits of the photographing apparatus 1 through the power line. After the power is supplied, the CPU 100 accesses the ROM 126, reads out a control program, loads it into a built-in memory (not shown), and executes the loaded control program to control the entire photographing apparatus 1.

  The CPU 100 receives the aperture 108 and the aperture 108 via the aperture / shutter driving circuit 104 so that an appropriate exposure can be obtained based on a photometric value measured by a TTL (Through The Lens) exposure meter (not shown) built in the photographing apparatus 1. The shutter 110 is driven and controlled. More specifically, drive control of the aperture 108 and the shutter 110 is performed based on an AE function designated by a shooting mode switch, such as a program AE (Automatic Exposure), shutter speed priority AE, aperture priority AE, or the like. The CPU 100 performs AF (Autofocus) control together with AE control. An active method, a phase difference detection method, a contrast detection method, or the like is applied to the AF control. Since the configuration and control of this type of AE and AF are well known, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The light flux from the subject passes through the photographing lens 106, the diaphragm 108, and the shutter 110 and is received by the image sensor 112. The image sensor 112 is, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor. The image sensor 112 accumulates an optical image formed by each pixel on the imaging surface as an electric charge corresponding to the amount of light. The signal is converted into a signal and output to the signal processing circuit 114. The signal processing circuit 114 performs predetermined signal processing on the electrical signal (photographed data) input from the image sensor 112 and outputs the processed signal to the image processing engine 116.

  The image processing engine 116 performs predetermined signal processing such as color interpolation, matrix calculation, and Y / C separation on the signal input from the signal processing circuit 114 to generate a luminance signal Y and color difference signals Cb, Cr, The image is compressed in a predetermined format such as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). The buffer memory 118 is used as a temporary storage location for processing data when the image processing engine 116 executes processing.

  In the present embodiment, the memory card 200 is detachably inserted into the card slot of the card interface 120A, and the memory card 300 is detachably inserted into the card slot of the card interface 120B. The memory cards 200 and 300 are a normal memory card and a wireless communication memory card, respectively.

  The image processing engine 116 can communicate with each of the memory cards 200 and 300 via the card interfaces 120A and 120B. The image processing engine 116 stores the generated compressed image signal (captured image data) in at least one of the memory cards 200 and 300 according to the setting operation of the operation unit 102 by the user.

  Further, the image processing engine 116 performs predetermined signal processing on the signal after Y / C separation, and buffers it in a frame memory (not shown) in units of frames. The image processing engine 116 sweeps the buffered signal from each frame memory at a predetermined timing, converts it into an image signal, and outputs it to the LCD control circuit 122. The LCD control circuit 122 modulates and controls the liquid crystal based on the image signal input from the image processing engine 116. Thereby, the photographed image of the subject is displayed on the LCD 124. The user can view through the LCD 124 a real-time through image captured with appropriate brightness and focus based on the AE control and AF control.

[Flow of saving captured image data]
Next, a storage flow of photographed image data by the photographing apparatus 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of storing captured image data. The storage flow of photographed image data shown in FIG. 2 is started when the user presses the release switch. In the description of this flowchart, the captured image indicates a still image that is captured when the release switch is pressed or a moving image that starts recording when the release switch is pressed.

[S10 in FIG. 2 (Possibility of Execution of Memory Card Type Determination)]
In this processing step S10, it is determined whether or not to determine the type of the memory card inserted into the card slot of the card interface. When the operation unit 102 is set so as to determine the type of the memory card inserted into the card slot of the card interface (S10 in FIG. 2: YES), the processing of this flowchart is performed by processing step S11 (memory Proceed to Card type determination. When the setting is made so as not to determine the type of the memory card inserted into the card slot of the card interface (S10: NO in FIG. 2), the processing of this flowchart is performed in processing step S12 (normal data of photographed image data). Save to size).

[S11 in FIG. 2 (determination of memory card type)]
In this processing step S11, the type of the memory card inserted into the card slot of each card interface is determined. When the determination target memory card is a normal memory card (S11 in FIG. 2: NO), the processing of this flowchart proceeds to processing step S12 (storing captured image data at a normal size). When the determination target memory card is a wireless communication memory card (S11 in FIG. 2: YES), the processing of this flowchart proceeds to processing step S13 (storing captured image data with a reduced size).

  In the present embodiment, this processing step S11 is executed twice. At the first execution of this processing step S11, the type of the memory card 200 inserted into the card slot of the card interface 120A is determined, and at the second execution, it is inserted into the card slot of the card interface 120B. The type of the existing memory card 300 is determined. At the time of the first execution, since the memory card 200 is a normal memory card, the process proceeds to processing step S12 (storage of captured image data at a normal size). At the time of the second execution, since the memory card 300 is a wireless communication memory card, the process proceeds to processing step S13 (storing captured image data with a reduced size).

[S12 in FIG. 2 (Storing Captured Image Data at Normal Data Size)]
In this processing step S12, the captured image data is stored in the memory card 200 (normal memory card) in a normal size (hereinafter referred to as “normal data size”). The “data size” is mainly determined by the image quality and image size of the captured image. “Image quality” refers to the compression rate of captured image data, and “image size” refers to the number of recorded pixels of captured image data.

  The image quality and image size of the captured image can be set from a menu screen displayed on the LCD 124. In this embodiment, the image quality of the normal data size that can be set includes, for example, “S.FINE” with high image quality (low compression rate), “FINE” with standard image quality (medium compression rate), and low image quality (high There are three types of compression ratio (ECONOMY). In the case of a still image, for example, “4928 × 3264 pixels (16 MB, L size)”, “3936 × 2624 pixels (10 MB, M size)”, “3072 ×” There are four types: “2048 pixels (6 MB, S size)” and “1920 × 1280 pixels (2 MB, XS size)”. In the case of a video, there are four types: “1920 × 1080 pixels (Full HD)”, “1280 × 720 pixels (HD)”, “640 × 480 pixels (VGA)”, and “320 × 240 pixels (QVGA)”. is there. Note that the image quality and image size of the default still image of the normal data size are “FINE” and “4928 × 3264 pixels (16 MB, L size)”, respectively. In addition, the image quality and image size of the default moving image of the normal data size are “FINE” and “1920 × 1080 pixels (Full HD)”, respectively. Setting data of the normal data size (and reduced data size described later) is stored in, for example, the built-in memory of the CPU 100.

[S13 in FIG. 2 (Saving Image Data with Reduced Data Size)]
In this processing step S13, the captured image data is saved in the memory card 300 (wireless communication memory card) in a reduced size (hereinafter referred to as “reduced data size”). “Reduced data size” is a size that takes into account the traffic load when wirelessly transferring captured image data to an external device, display conditions (image size that can be displayed, file size that can be processed, etc.) on the external device, etc. Yes, basically smaller than the normal data size. For example, the default still image quality and image size of the reduced data size are “ECONOMY” and “1920 × 1280 pixels (2 MB)”, respectively, which are smaller than the default value of the normal data size. Further, the default moving image quality and image size of the reduced data size are “ECONOMY” and “320 × 240 pixels (QVGA)”, respectively, which are also smaller than the default value of the normal data size.

  Depending on the wireless LAN (Local Area Network) environment and the specifications of the external device, it may be possible to transfer captured image data having a large size. Therefore, the image quality of the reduced data size can be changed to “S.FINE” or “FINE” in the same manner as the normal data size. Similarly, the image size of the reduced data size is “4928 × 3264 pixels (16 MB, L size)”, “3936 × 2624 pixels (10 MB, M size)”, “3072 × 2048 pixels (6 MB, S size) in the case of a still image. ) ”, And in the case of a moving image, the settings can be changed to“ 1920 × 1080 pixels (Full HD) ”,“ 1280 × 720 pixels (HD) ”, and“ 640 × 480 pixels (VGA) ”. Is possible.

  Regarding the setting change of the reduced data size, a specification that limits the degree of freedom of the change may be adopted. For example, the reduced data size may be set only to a size that is always smaller than the normal data size.

  Thus, in principle, the captured image data is stored in the normal data size in the normal memory card (processing step S12), and is stored in the reduced data size in the wireless communication memory card (processing step S13). . However, in the case of NO determination in the processing step S10 of FIG. 2 (whether or not the memory card type determination can be executed), the captured image data is stored in the normal data size regardless of the type of the memory card (processing step S12).

[S14 in FIG. 2 (determining whether to save captured image data)]
In this processing step S14, it is determined whether or not the captured image data can be stored in the memory card with the set image quality and image size.

[S15 in FIG. 2 (Save Error Display)]
This processing step S15 is executed when it is determined that the captured image data could not be stored in the memory card due to a lack of free space in the memory card (S14: NO in FIG. 2). Specifically, in this processing step S15, an error message indicating failure to save is displayed on the LCD 124.

[S16 in FIG. 2 (determination of memory card to be saved)]
In this processing step S16, it is determined whether or not the captured image data is to be stored in the other memory card. In the case of setting to save the photographed image data in a memory card inserted into both card slots 120A and 120B (S16: YES in FIG. 2), the processing of this flowchart is the processing step S17 (shooting in FIG. 2). The process proceeds to (determining whether there is a memory card for which image storage processing has not been executed). In the case of setting to save the photographed image data in a memory card inserted into one card slot of the card interface 120A or 120B (S16 of FIG. 2: NO), the processing of this flowchart ends. As an example, the processing of this flowchart ends when the captured image data is stored in the memory card 200 in the normal data size (or the reduced data size in the memory card 300).

[S17 in FIG. 2 (determining whether there is a memory card that has not been subjected to captured image storage processing)]
This processing step S17 is performed after it is determined that the captured image data is stored in the processing step S14 (determination of whether or not the captured image data can be stored) in FIG. 2 (S14: YES in FIG. 2), or in the processing step S15 (storage error). This is executed when processing step S16 (determination of the memory card to be saved) is executed after the error message indicating that the saving has failed is displayed in (Display). Specifically, in this processing step S17, the captured image storage process (processing step S12 of FIG. 2 (storage of the captured image data with the normal data size) or processing step S13 (storage of the captured image data with the reduced data size) is performed. It is determined whether or not there is a memory card that has not been subjected to ().

  In the present embodiment, this processing step S17 is executed twice. At the first execution of this processing step S17, since the captured image storage processing is not performed on the memory card 300 (wireless communication memory card) (S17 in FIG. 2: YES), processing step S11 (type of memory card) Return to (Judgment). At the time of the second execution of this processing step S17, the captured image storage processing is completed for the memory card 200 (normal memory card) and the memory card 300 (wireless communication memory card) (S17 in FIG. 2: NO). ), The process of this flowchart ends.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the storage size of the captured image data is automatically determined to be suitable for the type of the memory card, and the captured image data is stored in the memory card. Therefore, the user need not individually set the size of the captured image data for each card slot in consideration of the type of memory card loaded in the card slot. Therefore, for example, even when the memory card is replaced, the captured image data is stored in the normal memory card with a reduced data size or stored in the wireless communication memory card with the normal data size. There is no mistake that data is stored in the memory card with an unintended data size.

  The above is the description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to those described above, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. For example, the embodiment of the present application also includes an embodiment that is exemplarily specified in the specification or a combination of obvious embodiments and the like as appropriate.

1 photographing apparatus 100 CPU
102 Operation Unit 104 Aperture / Shutter Drive Circuit 106 Shooting Lens 108 Aperture 110 Shutter 112 Image Sensor 114 Signal Processing Circuit 116 Image Processing Engine 118 Buffer Memory 120A, 120B Card Interface 122 LCD Control Circuit 124 LCD
126 ROM
200, 300 Memory card

Claims (9)

A plurality of interface units to which an external storage medium can be connected;
Determining means for determining the type of external storage medium connected to each of the interface units;
Storage size determination means for determining the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium connected to each interface unit according to the type determined by the determination means;
Storage means for storing the captured image data in an external storage medium connected to each interface unit at a storage size determined by the storage size determination means;
Comprising
Shooting device. The storage size determining means includes
When the external storage medium is a memory card having no wireless communication function, the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium is determined as a first storage size,
When the external storage medium is a memory card having a wireless communication function, the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium is determined as a second storage size;
The imaging device according to claim 1. The initial value of the second storage size is smaller than the initial value of the first storage size,
The imaging device according to claim 2. The second storage size is determined to be always smaller than the first storage size;
The imaging device according to claim 2 or claim 3. An interface unit to which an external storage medium can be connected;
Determination means for determining the type of external storage medium connected to the interface unit;
A storage size determination unit that determines the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium connected to the interface unit according to the type determined by the determination unit;
Storage means for storing the captured image data in an external storage medium connected to the interface unit at a storage size determined by the storage size determination means;
With
The storage size determining means includes
When the external storage medium is a memory card having no wireless communication function, the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium is determined as a first storage size,
When the external storage medium is a memory card having a wireless communication function, the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium is determined as a second storage size;
Shooting device. The initial value of the second storage size is smaller than the initial value of the first storage size,
The imaging device according to claim 5. The second storage size is determined to be always smaller than the first storage size;
The imaging device according to claim 5 or 6. Setting means for setting whether or not to perform determination processing by the determination means;
The storage size determining means includes
When it is set by the setting means that the determination processing is not performed, the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium regardless of the type of the external storage medium connected to the interface unit Determine the storage size,
The imaging device according to any one of claims 2 to 7. An interface unit to which an external storage medium can be connected;
Determination means for determining the type of external storage medium connected to the interface unit;
A storage size determination unit that determines the size of the captured image data stored in the external storage medium connected to the interface unit according to the type determined by the determination unit;
The size of captured image data stored in the external storage medium when the external storage medium is a memory card without a wireless communication function, and the external when the external storage medium is a memory card with a wireless communication function Storage size storage means for storing each size of the captured image data stored in the storage medium;
Comprising
Shooting device.

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