JP2015231169A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To evade a problem in which an automatically deleted image file cannot be reproduced when reproduced.SOLUTION: An imaging apparatus includes: read/write control means of controlling reading and writing of image data; card control means of controlling actuation of a card; means of creating a list of image data recorded in the card; card determination means of determining that the card has automatic transfer and automatic deleting functions; threshold acquiring means of acquiring a threshold for writing capacity for starting automatic deletion from the card; means of determining whether a specified image is an object of automatic deletion; file management information control means of controlling update of file management information; and recording medium management means of managing the capacity of the card. The imaging apparatus determines whether an image to be reproduced is an object of automatic deletion, and refers directly to a directory entry when the image is an object of automatic deletion and displays the image even when the image is already deleted.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, a control method thereof, a computer program, and a storage medium.

  Images taken with a digital camera are recorded as digital data on an external recording medium such as a CF or SD card. However, since the recording capacity of the external recording medium is determined, if the user continues shooting without deleting the image, the capacity of the external recording medium becomes full, and shooting becomes impossible.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, when the free space of the external recording medium decreases, the stored image data is transferred to the server using wireless communication, and the transferred image is deleted from the external recording medium to reduce the free space. The technique of ensuring is disclosed.

JP 2006-174060 A

  However, the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above is a system that functions under the condition that an image file to be transferred and an image file to be deleted are determined by the digital camera. However, in recent years, external recording media that have a function of automatically transferring an image and deleting the transferred image from the external recording medium have appeared.

  For this reason, there is a problem that when the digital camera tries to reproduce the automatically deleted image file recorded on the external recording medium, it cannot be reproduced.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
Read / write control means (50) for controlling reading / writing of image data,
Card control means (50) for controlling the activation of the card,
Means (50) for creating a list of image data recorded on the card;
Card discriminating means (50) for discriminating that the card has an automatic transfer and automatic deletion function;
Threshold acquisition means (50) for acquiring from the card the threshold of the write capacity for starting automatic deletion;
Means (50) for determining whether the designated image is a target for automatic deletion;
File management information control means (52) for controlling the update of the file management information;
Recording medium management means (52) for managing the capacity of the card;
And
Determine whether the image to be played is subject to automatic deletion,
If it is an object to be automatically deleted, the directory entry is directly referred to and an image is displayed even if it has been deleted (50).
It was set as the characteristic characterized by this.

  According to the present invention, an automatically deleted image can be correctly displayed.

1 is a block diagram of a schematic configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of a file system. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of data storage processing to an external recording medium 200. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the mounting process of an external recording medium. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the automatic deletion process of the external recording medium provided with the automatic deletion function. It is a flowchart corresponding to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart corresponding to cancellation of the deleted image of the present embodiment. It is a display example of a present Example.

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a digital camera as an image processing apparatus corresponding to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a digital camera body. Reference numeral 10 denotes a photographing lens, 12 denotes a shutter having a diaphragm function, 14 denotes an image sensor that converts an optical image into an electrical signal, and 16 denotes an A / D converter that converts an analog signal output from the image sensor 14 into a digital signal.

  A timing generator 18 supplies a clock signal and a control signal to the image sensor 14, the A / D converter 16 and the D / A converter 26, and is controlled by the memory controller 22 and the system controller 50. An image processing unit 20 performs predetermined pixel interpolation processing and color conversion processing on the data from the A / D converter 16 or the data from the memory control unit 22.

  Further, the image processing unit 20 performs predetermined calculation processing using the captured image data. Based on this calculation result, the system control unit 50 controls the exposure control unit 40 and the distance measurement control unit 42 to perform TTL (through the lens) AF (autofocus) processing, AE (automatic exposure). ) Processing and EF (flash pre-emission) processing.

  Further, the image processing unit 20 performs predetermined calculation processing using the captured image data, and also performs TTL AWB (auto white balance) processing based on the obtained calculation result.

  A memory control unit 22 controls the A / D converter 16, the timing generation unit 18, the image processing unit 20, the image display memory 24, the D / A converter 26, the memory 30, and the compression / decompression unit 32. Output data from the A / D converter 16 is written into the image display memory 24 or the memory 30 through the image processing unit 20 and the memory control unit 22 or only through the memory control circuit 22.

  Reference numeral 24 denotes an image display memory, 26 denotes a D / A converter, and 28 denotes an image display unit composed of a TFT LCD or the like. Display image data written in the image display memory 24 passes through the D / A converter 26. Displayed by the image display unit 28.

  In the digital camera 100, if the image data captured using the image display unit 28 is sequentially displayed, the electronic viewfinder function can be realized. The image display unit 28 can arbitrarily turn on / off the display according to an instruction from the system control unit 50. When the display is turned off, the power consumption of the digital camera 100 can be significantly reduced. it can.

  Reference numeral 30 denotes a memory for storing captured still images and moving images, and has a storage capacity sufficient to store a predetermined number of still images and a moving image for a predetermined time. Thereby, even in the case of continuous shooting or panoramic shooting in which a plurality of still images are continuously shot, it is possible to write a large amount of images to the memory 30 at high speed. The memory 30 can also be used as a work area for the system control unit 50.

  A compression / decompression unit 32 compresses / decompresses image data by adaptive discrete cosine transform (ADCT) or the like, and reads an image stored in the memory 30 to perform compression processing or decompression processing. Note that the processed data is written into the memory 30 again.

  Reference numeral 40 denotes an exposure control unit that controls the shutter 12 having a diaphragm function, and has a flash light control function in cooperation with the flash 48. Reference numeral 42 denotes a distance measurement control unit that controls focusing of the photographing lens 10, reference numeral 44 denotes a zoom control unit that controls zooming of the photographing lens 10, and reference numeral 46 denotes a barrier control unit that controls the operation of the protection unit 102 serving as a barrier.

  A flash 48 has an AF auxiliary light projecting function and a flash light control function. The exposure control unit 40 and the distance measurement control unit 42 are controlled using the TTL method. Based on the calculation result obtained by calculating the captured image data by the image processing circuit 20, the system control circuit 50 performs the exposure control unit 40 and the distance measurement. The controller 42 is controlled. A system control circuit 50 controls the entire digital camera 100, and a memory 52 stores constants, variables, programs, and the like for operation of the system control circuit 50.

  Reference numeral 54 denotes a display unit including a liquid crystal display device, a speaker, and the like that display an operation state, a message, and the like using characters, images, sounds, and the like according to execution of a program in the system control unit 50. The display unit 54 is installed in a single or a plurality of positions near the operation unit of the digital camera 100 so as to be easily visible, and is configured by a combination of, for example, an LCD, an LED, and a sounding element. The display unit 54 has a part of its function installed in the optical viewfinder 104. Among the display contents of the display unit 54, what is displayed on the LCD or the like includes single shot / continuous shooting display, self-timer display, compression rate display, number of recorded pixels, number of recorded pixels, number of remaining images that can be captured, shutter There are speed display, aperture value display, and exposure compensation display.

  Furthermore, flash display, red-eye reduction display, macro shooting display, buzzer setting display, clock battery remaining amount display, battery remaining amount display, error display, information display with multiple digits, display / removal state display of external recording medium 200, Communication I / F operation display, date / time display, etc. Among the display contents of the display unit 54, what is displayed in the optical viewfinder 104 includes in-focus display, camera shake warning display, flash charge display, shutter speed display, aperture value display, exposure correction display, and the like.

  Reference numeral 56 denotes an electrically erasable / recordable nonvolatile memory, such as an EEPROM. Reference numerals 60, 62, 64, 66, 68 and 70 are operation units for inputting various operation instructions of the system control unit 50. It is composed of one or a plurality of combinations such as a switch, dial, touch panel, pointing by line of sight detection, and a voice recognition device. Here, a specific description of these operation units will be given.

  Reference numeral 60 denotes a mode dial switch, which can switch and set various function modes such as power-off, automatic shooting mode, shooting mode, panoramic shooting mode, playback mode, multi-screen playback / erase mode, and PC connection mode. Reference numeral 62 denotes a shutter switch SW1, which is turned on during the operation of a shutter button (not shown), and performs AF (auto focus) processing, AE (automatic exposure) processing, AWB (auto white balance) processing, EF (flash pre-flash) processing, and the like. Instruct to start operation.

  Reference numeral 64 denotes a shutter switch SW2, which is turned on when the operation of a shutter button (not shown) is completed, and instructs to start the following series of processing operations. This process includes an exposure process in which a signal read from the image sensor 12 is written into the memory 30 via the A / D converter 16 and the memory control unit 22. Further, development processing using calculation in the image processing unit 20 and the memory control unit 22 is also included. Furthermore, a recording process in which the image data read from the memory 30 is compressed by the compression / decompression unit 32 and the image data is written to the recording medium 200 or 210 is also included.

  Reference numeral 66 denotes an image display ON / OFF switch which can set ON / OFF of the image display unit 28. With this function, when taking an image using the optical viewfinder 104, it is possible to save power by cutting off the current supply to the image display unit 28 such as a TFT LCD.

  Reference numeral 68 denotes a quick review ON / OFF switch, which sets a quick review function for automatically reproducing image data taken immediately after photographing. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a function for setting a quick review function when the image display unit 28 is turned off is provided.

  An operation unit 70 includes various buttons and a touch panel. The operation unit 70 includes, for example, a menu button, a set button, a macro button, a multi-screen playback page break button, a flash setting button, a single shooting / continuous shooting / self-timer switching button, and a menu movement + (plus) button. Further, a menu movement- (minus) button, a reproduction image movement + (plus) button, a reproduction image- (minus) button, a shooting image quality selection button, an exposure correction button, a date / time setting button, and the like are also included.

  A power control unit 80 includes a battery detection unit, a DC-DC converter, a switch unit that switches a block to be energized, and the like. The power supply control unit 80 detects the presence / absence of a battery, the type of battery, and the remaining battery level, and controls the DC-DC converter based on the detection result and the instruction from the system control unit 50, and the necessary voltage is required. It is supplied to each part including the external recording medium 200 for a long period.

  Reference numeral 82 denotes a connector, 84 denotes a connector, and 86 denotes a primary battery such as an alkaline battery or lithium battery, a secondary battery such as a NiCd battery, NiMH battery, or Li battery, an AC adapter, or the like.

  Reference numeral 90 denotes a card controller that transmits and receives data to and from an external recording medium such as a memory card, 91 denotes an interface with the external recording medium such as a memory card, and 92 denotes a connector that connects to the external recording medium 200 such as a memory card. Reference numeral 98 denotes a recording medium attachment / detachment detection unit that detects whether or not the external recording medium 200 is attached to the connector 92. In the present embodiment, the interface or connector to which the recording medium for storing the image data is attached may have a single or a plurality of systems and any number of systems. Moreover, it is good also as a structure provided with combining the interface and connector of a different standard.

  For example, the interface 91 and the connector 92 can be configured by using a PCMCIA card, a CF (compact flash (registered trademark)) card, or the like conforming to a standard. In that case, various communication cards such as a LAN card, a modem card, a USB card, an IEEE 1394 card, a P1284 card, a SCSI card, a communication card such as a PHS, and the like can be connected. Furthermore, it becomes possible to transfer image data and management information attached to the image data to / from peripheral devices such as other computers and printers.

  Reference numeral 102 denotes a protection unit that is a barrier that prevents the imaging unit from being stained or damaged by covering the imaging unit including the lens 10 of the digital camera 100. Reference numeral 104 denotes an optical viewfinder, which can take an image using only the optical viewfinder without using the electronic viewfinder function of the image display unit 28. In the optical viewfinder 104, some functions of the display unit 54, for example, a focus display, a camera shake warning display, a flash charge display, a shutter speed display, an aperture value display, an exposure correction display, and the like are installed.

  Reference numeral 200 denotes an external recording medium that can be attached to and detached from the digital camera 100, such as a memory card. The overall system configuration of the digital camera 100 has been described above.

  Next, a FAT system generally used as a file system built in an external recording medium will be described with reference to FIG.

  A management area 200 including a master boot recorder (MBR) 201, a boot sector 202, and a FAT 203 is set in the head area of the FAT. Here, basic information about the file system such as the size of the data area and the cluster size indicating the minimum unit of logical storage on the storage device is written.

  Following that is the data area 210. The normal file is stored in the data area 210. The data area 210 includes a directory entry 211 and main data 213 of the image data file. Here, the directory entry 211 includes information on the image data such as the file name of the image data file, the shooting date and time, the attribute, the start cluster number of the main body data 213, and the data size. A set of directory entries 211 is particularly referred to as a directory entry block 212.

  Here, for example, the most basic method for acquiring an image file (IMG — 0001.JPG) using FAT will be described. The file system first finds a directory entry block 212 that includes a directory entry 211 for each image data file. Among them, in order to find the file to be acquired, the file name of the file and the file name of the directory entry 212 are sequentially compared with each other.

  When the directory entry 211 of the corresponding file is detected, the start cluster is acquired. The FAT 203 table is referred to from the acquired start cluster, and the cluster connection (chain) relating to which cluster the file uses is grasped. Here, IMG — 0001.JPG has a start cluster of 3 according to the directory entry 211. Therefore, referring to FAT 203, it is understood that the cluster uses 3-4-5-6 and 4 clusters (16 KB (4 kilobytes) per cluster, so 16 KB * 4 = 64 KB). In this way, the file can be acquired by recognizing that IMG — 0001.JPG exists in the clusters 3 to 6 and reading out that portion.

  Conversely, when a predetermined file is stored in the external recording medium, the file is first opened. In the file open, the file name (IMG — 0001.JPG) of the file is registered for saving in the directory entry 211. However, since the start cluster and file size are undecided here, it is blank. Next, the contents of the file are written in the data area 210. (However, the FAT may be updated at any time according to the data size). When the data has been written, the file is closed. In the close, the start cluster and size that have not been determined previously are written to the directory entry 211, and the FAT 203 is written.

  Next, referring to FIG. 3, a means for accessing an external recording medium in the digital camera will be described.

  In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a file control unit. The file control unit 301 is a part of the system control unit 50 and controls the file system in order to save the image data file in the external recording medium 200. Reference numeral 302 denotes an internal buffer, and 303 denotes a file management information cache unit, both of which are arranged in the memory 30. The internal buffer 302 stores captured image data. The file management information cache unit 303 stores directory entry 211 and FAT 203 information of the external recording medium 200. By using this file management information cache, it becomes possible to search and read files at high speed.

  Next, the external recording medium mounting process will be described with reference to FIG.

  The system control unit 50 first confirms whether an external recording medium is loaded by the recording medium attachment / detachment detection unit 98 (S501). If not mounted, the image display unit 28 displays to the user that no external recording medium is inserted, and the mounting process is completed.

  If an external recording medium has been inserted, power is supplied to the external recording medium and communication is started (S502). Information such as the type, total capacity, and writing speed of the external recording medium is acquired through communication with the external recording medium (S503). Subsequently, the FAT information of the external recording medium is read, the used capacity is calculated, and the free capacity is calculated from the total capacity acquired in S503. Next, all file information stored in the directory entry information of the external recording medium is read (S505). Necessary information is held as list information in the digital camera for files required for control of the digital camera, such as still image files and moving image files, from among the read files (S506).

  Next, the flow of automatic deletion processing in the external recording medium with automatic deletion function will be described with reference to FIG. When power is supplied from the system control unit 50, it is first checked whether or not the automatic deletion function is ON (S601). If it is not ON, the startup process continues. If the automatic deletion function is ON, a threshold that is a condition for starting automatic deletion is acquired (S602). This threshold can be set by the user, and is a value for determining how much the used capacity is to exceed the total capacity of the external recording medium (for example, 10%, 20%, etc.) when the transferred image is to be erased. .

  Next, acquisition of the capacity that can be recorded on the external recording medium (S603) and the current use capacity are calculated based on the FAT information (S604). From these pieces of information, it is determined whether the used capacity with respect to the total capacity exceeds the threshold (S605). When the threshold value is exceeded, in order to perform automatic deletion, the transferred image is searched (S606), and the image to be deleted is selected from the transferred images (S607).

  Then, the deletion of the target image is started. Here, only the directory entry is deleted (S608), and the FAT is not deleted. The FAT is deleted when the power supply is once turned off by the system control unit 50 and turned on again (S609). However, instead of deleting all the FATs for the automatically deleted image, the directory entry is checked and only the FAT corresponding to the deleted one is deleted (S610).

[Example 1]
Hereinafter, the flow of image reproduction processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  When playback is instructed by the user, the digital camera 100 determines an image to be played back (S701). Here, in order to determine an image to be reproduced, information on what kind of file is stored in the external recording medium is required. As described in step S506 in FIG. 4, the digital camera maintains a list of image file information stored in advance during the mounting process of the external recording medium, thereby determining the playback target without accessing the external recording medium. Can do.

  Next, the image file is read using the processing described in FIG. First, it is confirmed whether or not the directory entry of the reproduction target image is stored in the file management information cache unit of the memory 30 (S702). If the directory entry is stored, the information is used (S703), the image file is read (S712), and the reproduction process is performed (S713). When the directory entry of the reproduction target image is not stored in the file management information cache unit, the directory entry is acquired directly from the external recording medium (S704).

  It is determined whether the image file has been deleted from the read directory entry (S705). If not deleted, the image file is read and reproduced as it is. If it has already been deleted, the following processing is performed.

  First, it is determined whether the external recording medium being used is equipped with an automatic deletion function (S705), and further, it is confirmed whether the automatic deletion function is ON (S707). Such discrimination information is acquired from an external recording medium using communication. However, the current setting can be realized by using a means for the user to input using the operation unit 70. Further, such information acquisition may not be performed at the time of reproduction but may be performed at the time of mounting.

  If the deletion function is not ON even in an external recording medium without an automatic deletion function or a recording medium with an automatic deletion function, an image cannot be played back, so the user is notified that there is an image that cannot be played back (S706). .

  Next, a threshold value, which is a setting value for starting automatic deletion, is acquired from the external recording medium (S709). Then, using the total capacity of the external recording medium acquired in S503 in FIG. 4 and the free capacity calculated in S504, how much of the total capacity is used is calculated.

  It is determined whether or not automatic deletion is started using the acquired value (S710). For example, if the current used capacity is 30% and the set threshold value is 20%, it can be determined that automatic deletion will be started.

  Next, it is confirmed whether the image file to be reproduced has been transferred (S711). Confirmation of whether the transfer has been completed can be realized by designating a file to be reproduced on the external recording medium and receiving a reply as to whether the transfer has been completed.

  As a result of checking in S711, if it is determined that the image file to be reproduced has already been transferred, there is a possibility that it will be deleted by the external recording medium in the future. If it is only deleted automatically, a reliable value other than the deletion information of the directory entry remains as it is, so that the image file is read using the value (S712) and reproduction processing is performed (S713).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, an image can be displayed correctly even in an automatically deleted image.

  Next, cancellation of an automatically deleted image will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, an image is displayed on the image display unit 28 so that it can be seen that the image is automatically deleted from the image being reproduced (S801). At this time, it may be displayed using a sentence or an icon as shown in FIG. Next, it is displayed whether or not to cancel the automatically deleted image (S802).

  If cancellation is selected by the user, the system control unit 50 rewrites the directory entry of the external recording medium in order to cancel the deletion (S803). At this time, as shown in FIG. 8C, the user may be advised to protect the image so that the target image is not automatically deleted again (S804). When image protection is selected, the directory entry is rewritten and the icon is rewritten. To display that the image is protected (S805).

  As mentioned above, although preferable embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and change are possible within the range of the summary.

14 image sensor, 16 A / D, 18 timing generator, 26 D / A,
28 image display unit, 32 compression / decompression unit, 30 memory, 24 image display memory,
22 memory control unit, 20 image processing unit, 40 exposure control unit, 42 distance measurement control unit,
44 zoom control unit, 46 barrier control unit, 48 flash, 52 memory,
54 display, 56 non-volatile memory, 60 mode dial,
64 Shutter switch, 66 Image display ON / OFF, 68 Quick review ON / OFF,
70 operation unit, 80 power supply control unit, 86 power supply unit, 90 card controller,
91 I / F, 98 recording medium attachment / detachment detection unit, 104 optical finder, 110 communication unit,
112 Connector (antenna), 200 External recording medium

Claims (3)

Read / write control means (50) for controlling reading / writing of image data,
Card control means (50) for controlling the activation of the card,
Means (50) for creating a list of image data recorded on the card;
Card discriminating means (50) for discriminating that the card has an automatic transfer and automatic deletion function;
Threshold acquisition means (50) for acquiring from the card the threshold of the write capacity for starting automatic deletion;
Means (50) for determining whether the designated image is a target for automatic deletion;
File management information control means (52) for controlling the update of the file management information;
Recording medium management means (52) for managing the capacity of the card;
And
Determine whether the image to be played is subject to automatic deletion,
When it is an object to be automatically deleted, the directory entry is directly referred to, and an image is displayed even if it has been deleted (50).
An imaging apparatus characterized by that. When it is determined that the image has been automatically deleted, a warning is displayed (28).
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1. When deletion of an automatically deleted image is canceled, the image is protected (50).
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1.