JP2016010044A - Imaging device, control method of imaging device, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism capable of setting whether an image captured by an imaging device, before or after communication connection with an external apparatus, is made public or private by a simple operation.SOLUTION: An imaging device 100 includes communication means (S403) communicating with an external apparatus 300, saving means (S401) for saving a plurality of start times, display means (S402) for displaying the start time saved by the saving means, start time selection means (S402) for selecting the start time displayed in the display means by user operation, and image selection means (S402) for selecting an image to be published, out of the captured images. The image selection means selects an image captured after the start time selected by the start time selection means as an image published in the external apparatus 300, and the image thus selected is transmitted to the external apparatus 300 by the communication means.

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera provided with communication means for communicating with an external device.

  An imaging apparatus such as a digital camera is one that allows only an image taken after communication connection with an external device to be viewed on the external device (Patent Document 1). In this image pickup apparatus, since an image taken before communication connection with an external device cannot be viewed on the external device, it is possible to restrict viewing.

JP 2011-172809 A

  In the image pickup apparatus of Patent Document 1, if shooting is performed without forgetting communication connection with an external device, an image taken by the image pickup device cannot be viewed from the external device, and an image taken by the own device cannot be viewed. There is a problem that viewing restrictions cannot be applied.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism capable of setting whether an image captured by an imaging device is made public or non-public before or after communication connection with an external device with a simple operation. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image pickup apparatus according to the present invention displays a storage unit that stores a plurality of startup times, a display unit that displays the startup times stored by the storage unit, and a display unit that displays the startup times. An activation time selection unit that selects the activation time by a user operation; and an image selection unit that selects an image to be released from among the captured images. The image selection unit is selected by the activation time selection unit. The image to be displayed is selected based on the activation time.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it can be set by simple operation whether the image image | photographed with the imaging device before or after communication connection with an external apparatus is made public.

1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a digital camera that is a first embodiment of an imaging apparatus of the present invention and an image processing apparatus that is connected to the digital camera. It is a block diagram which shows the specific structural example of a digital camera. It is a block diagram which shows the specific structural example of an image processing apparatus. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process which browses the image preserve | saved at the recording medium of a digital camera from an image processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the menu screen displayed on the display part of a digital camera. It is a figure which shows an example of the directory structure of the recording medium of a digital camera. It is a figure which shows the data structural example of the still image file currently recorded on the recording medium of a digital camera. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit of the image processing apparatus after the process of step S407 in FIG. 4 is completed. It is a figure which shows an example of the image currently recorded on the recording medium of the digital camera which is 2nd Embodiment of the imaging device of this invention. It is a figure which shows the menu screen (public start image selection screen) displayed on the display part of a digital camera. It is a flowchart figure explaining the operation example of a digital camera. It is a figure which shows an example of the menu screen displayed on the display part of the digital camera which is 3rd Embodiment of the imaging device of this invention.

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

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a digital camera which is a first embodiment of the imaging apparatus of the present invention and an image processing apparatus connected to the digital camera.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the digital camera 100 of this embodiment includes a communication unit 110 and an antenna 112. Data including commands and captured images can be transmitted and received between the digital camera 100 and the image processing device 300 by wireless communication via the communication unit 110 and the antenna 112 and the communication unit 330 and the antenna 332 of the image processing device 300. is there. The image processing apparatus 300 corresponds to an example of an external device according to the present invention.

  Wireless communication between the digital camera 100 and the image processing apparatus 300 is performed by a wireless LAN conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard, a spread spectrum system such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), or the like.

  The digital camera 100 records image data captured through the lens barrel 100 a on a removable recording medium 200, and the recorded image data is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 300 via the communication unit 110, the antenna 112, the antenna 332, and the communication unit 330. Send to. The image processing apparatus 300 can transmit the received image data to another image processing apparatus or a communication base station via the communication unit 326 and the antenna 328 (see FIG. 3).

  Next, a specific configuration example of the digital camera 100 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, an image sensor 14 optically converts a subject image formed through a photographing lens 10 and a shutter 12 having a diaphragm function and outputs an analog image signal. The A / D converter 16 converts the analog signal output of the image sensor 14 into a digital signal. The timing generation circuit 18 is controlled by the memory control circuit 22 and the system control circuit 50, and supplies a clock signal and a control signal to the image sensor 14, the A / D converter 16, and the D / A converter 26.

  The image processing circuit 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 circuit 22. The image processing circuit 20 performs predetermined arithmetic processing on the captured image data, and also performs TTL AWB (auto white balance) processing based on the obtained arithmetic result. The system control circuit 50 performs TTL (through-the-lens) AF (autofocus) processing, AE (automatic exposure) on the exposure control circuit 40 and the distance measurement control circuit 42 based on the calculation result of the image processing circuit 20. ) Process and EF (flash pre-emission) process.

  The memory control circuit 22 controls the A / D converter 16, the timing generation circuit 18, the image processing circuit 20, the D / A converter 26, the memory 30, and the compression / decompression circuit 32. Data of the A / D converter 16 is written into the memory 30 via the image processing circuit 20 and the memory control circuit 22 or data of the A / D converter 16 is directly written via the memory control circuit 22.

  The display unit 28 is composed of an LCD or the like, and displays images and various information. Examples of what is displayed on the display unit 28 include an image stored in the recording unit 202, an information display for connecting to the image processing apparatus 300, a menu, and the like. The memory 30 is a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory for storing captured still images and moving images, and has a sufficient storage capacity for storing a predetermined number of still images and a predetermined time of moving images. . This makes it possible to write a large amount of images to the memory 30 at high speed even in continuous shooting or panoramic shooting in which a plurality of still images are continuously shot. The memory 30 can also be used as a work area for the system control circuit 50.

  The compression / decompression circuit 32 is a circuit that compresses and decompresses image data by adaptive discrete cosine transform (ADCT) or the like. The image data stored in the memory 30 is read and subjected to compression processing or decompression processing. Write to memory 30. The exposure control circuit 40 controls the shutter 12 and also has a flash light control function in cooperation with the flash 48.

  The distance measurement control circuit 42 controls focusing of the photographing lens 10, and the zoom control circuit 44 controls zooming of the photographing lens 10. The barrier control circuit 46 controls the operation of the barrier 102 that covers the photographing lens 10. The flash 48 also has an AF auxiliary light projecting function and a flash light control function. The exposure control circuit 40 and the distance measurement control circuit 42 are controlled by the system control circuit 50 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 controls the entire camera 100. The memory 52 stores constants, variables, programs, and the like for operating the system control circuit 50. The nonvolatile memory 56 is an electrically erasable / recordable memory, and for example, an EEPROM or the like is used.

  The main switch 72 switches between power on / off. The mode dial 60 switches and sets various function modes such as an automatic shooting mode, a shooting mode, a panoramic shooting mode, a playback mode, a multi-screen playback / erase mode, and a PC connection mode. The release switch (SW1) 62 is turned on during the operation of the release button 100b (see FIG. 1), and instructs to start operations such as AF processing, AE processing, AWB processing, and EF processing. The release switch (SW2) 64 is turned on when the operation of the release button 100b is completed.

  When the release switch (SW2) 64 is turned on, the system control circuit starts the exposure process for writing the image data to the memory 30 via the A / D converter 16 and the memory control circuit 22 from the signal read from the image sensor 14. 50. Similarly, development processing using computations in the image processing circuit 20 and the memory control circuit 22, recording of reading out image data from the memory 30, compression in the compression / decompression circuit 32, and writing the image data in the recording medium 200 or 210 An operation start of a series of processing such as processing is instructed.

  The operation unit 70 includes various buttons and a touch panel. The operation unit 70 includes a menu button, a set button, a macro button, a multi-screen playback page break button, a flash setting button, a self-timer button, a menu movement + (plus) button, a menu movement − (minus) button, a playback image movement + There are (plus) buttons. In addition to the playback image- (minus) button, shooting image quality selection button, exposure correction button, date / time setting button, the operation unit 70 includes a playback mode, a multi-screen playback / erase mode, a PC connection mode, and the like. There are playback switches to set the function mode.

  Furthermore, the operation unit 70 includes an AF mode setting switch for setting the one-shot AF mode and the servo AF mode, a switch for setting on / off of the display unit 28, and a quick review function for automatically reproducing image data shot immediately after shooting. There is a switch etc. to set. Furthermore, the operation unit 70 includes a compression mode switch for selecting a compression rate for JPEG compression or for selecting a RAW mode in which the output signal of the image sensor 14 is directly digitized and recorded on the recording medium 200.

  The power supply control circuit 80 includes a battery detection circuit, a DC-DC converter, a switch circuit that switches a block to be energized, and the like. The power supply control circuit 80 detects the presence / absence of a battery, the type of battery, the remaining battery level, controls the DC-DC converter based on the detection result and an instruction from the system control circuit 50, and supplies a necessary voltage for a necessary period. , And supplied to each part including the recording medium 200. A power supply 86 is connected to the power supply control circuit 80 via connectors 82 and 84. Examples of the power source 86 include primary batteries such as alkaline batteries and lithium batteries, secondary batteries such as NiCd batteries, NiMH batteries, and Li-ion batteries, and AC adapters.

  The I / F 90 is an interface with the recording medium 200 connected via the connector 92. The recording medium 200 includes a recording unit 202 composed of a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, or the like, an I / F 204 that is an interface with the camera 100, and a connector 206 that is connected to a connector 92 on the camera 100 side. The recording medium attachment / detachment detection unit 94 detects whether or not the recording medium 200 is attached to the connector 92.

  In the present embodiment, the interface and the connector for attaching the recording medium 200 are one system, but the interface and the connector for attaching the recording medium 200 may have a single system or a plurality of systems. Moreover, it is good also as a structure provided with combining the interface and connector of a different standard.

  As the interface 90 and the connector 92, a connector that conforms to a standard such as a PCMCIA card, a CF (compact flash (registered trademark)) card, an SD card, or an MMC (multimedia card) may be used. In this 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 can be connected. As a result, image data and management information attached to the image data can be transferred to and from peripheral devices such as other computers and printers.

  The optical viewfinder 104 is used for shooting without using the electronic viewfinder function of the display unit 28. The communication unit 110 has various short-range high-speed data communication functions such as wireless LAN communication conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard, spread spectrum communication such as BlueTooth (registered trademark), and infrared communication such as IrDA. The antenna 112 connects the camera 100 to other devices via the communication unit 110. An RTC (Real Time Clock) 120 measures the date and time.

  Next, a specific configuration example of the image processing apparatus 300 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, a microphone 310 converts sound into an electrical signal. The A / D converter 312 converts the analog output signal of the microphone 310 into a digital signal. The memory control circuit 314 writes the output data of the A / D converter 312 to the memory 320, and outputs the data read from the memory 320 to the D / A converter 316. The D / A converter 316 converts a digital signal into an analog signal. The speaker 318 converts an electrical signal into an audio signal.

  The memory 320 stores output sound from the microphone 310 and still images and moving images transmitted from the camera 100. The memory 320 has a storage capacity sufficient to store a predetermined period of audio, moving images, and a predetermined number of still images. The communication unit 326 has various long-range wireless communication functions such as TDMA, CDMA, and W-CDMA. The antenna 328 connects the image processing device 300 to another image processing device or a communication base station via the communication unit 326. The communication unit 330 has various short-distance high-speed data communication functions such as a wireless LAN compliant with the IEEE802.11 standard, spread spectrum communication such as BlueTooth (registered trademark), and infrared communication such as IrDA. The antenna 332 connects the image processing apparatus 300 to other devices via the communication unit 330.

  A system control circuit 350 controls the entire image processing apparatus 300. The memory 352 stores constants, variables, programs, and the like for operating the system control circuit 350. The nonvolatile memory 354 is an electrically erasable / recordable memory, and for example, an EEPROM or the like is used.

  The display unit 360 is configured with an LCD or the like, and displays still image data and moving image data stored in the memory 320. Further, the display unit 360 can perform GUI display such as icons and menus stored in the nonvolatile memory 354 according to an instruction from the system control circuit 50. Further, the display unit 360 includes a touch panel, and can display an image, input a telephone number, and perform various settings by touching a displayed icon or cursor with a finger or the like.

  The operation unit 362 is configured by a single or a combination of a switch and a dial for inputting various operation instructions of the system control circuit 350, pointing by eye-gaze detection, a voice recognition device, and the like. The operation unit 362 can perform operations such as power on / off of the image processing apparatus 300, execution (off hook) / stop (on hook) of a call, telephone number input, telephone number search, communication mode switching, call volume adjustment, and the like. it can.

  The power supply control circuit 380 includes a battery detection circuit, a DC-DC converter, a switch circuit that switches blocks to be energized, and the like. The power supply control circuit 380 detects the presence / absence of a battery, the type of battery, the remaining battery level, controls the DC-DC converter based on the detection result and the instruction of the system control circuit 350, and supplies the necessary voltage for a necessary period. , Supply to each part. A power source 386 is connected to the power source control circuit 380 via connectors 382 and 384. Examples of the power source 386 include primary batteries such as alkaline batteries and lithium batteries, secondary batteries such as NiCd batteries, NiMH batteries, and Li-ion batteries, and AC adapters.

  Next, an operation example of the digital camera 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing processing for browsing an image stored in the recording medium 200 of the digital camera 100 from the image processing apparatus 300. The processing on the digital camera 100 side in FIG. 4 is executed by the system control circuit 50 after the program stored in the nonvolatile memory 56 or the like is expanded in the memory 52. Also, the processing on the image processing apparatus 300 side in FIG. 4 is executed by the system control circuit 350 by developing a program stored in the nonvolatile memory 354 and the like in the memory 352. In FIG. 4, a smartphone as a small portable terminal is assumed as the image processing apparatus 300.

  First, in step S401, when the power is turned on by a user operation, the system control circuit 50 on the digital camera 100 side acquires the current time from the RTC 120, and stores the acquired time in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56 as a startup time. . In the activation time saving process here, it is possible to save a predetermined number of activation times, for example, 20 times. The system control circuit 50 overwrites the oldest activation time when the digital camera 100 is activated a predetermined number of times or more.

  In step S402, the system control circuit 50 on the digital camera 100 side sets image disclosure. Here, the image publication setting determines which of the images stored in the recording medium 200 is to be published according to an instruction by a user operation. Details of the image disclosure setting will be described later with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

  In step S <b> 403, the system control circuit 50 on the digital camera 100 side performs communication connection processing with the image processing apparatus 300 to establish a connection. Since the connection process here is well-known, description is abbreviate | omitted. The connection method may be either an ad hoc mode that does not require a wireless LAN access point or an infrastructure mode in which connection is established via a wireless LAN access point.

  In step S404, when the communication connection between the digital camera 100 and the image processing apparatus 300 is established, the system control circuit 350 on the image processing apparatus 300 transmits a file ID request for a viewable image file to the digital camera 100. .

  In step S405, in response to the request in step S404, the system control circuit 50 on the digital camera 100 side transmits the file ID and the total number of viewable image files to the image processing apparatus 300. This FileID is an ID that is assigned to each image and is used to specify the image. The file ID assignment method will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S406, the system control circuit 350 on the image processing apparatus 300 side requests the digital camera 100 for a thumbnail image having the FileID returned in step S405. At this time, if the number of thumbnails that can be displayed at once on the display unit 360 of the image processing apparatus 300 is nine and the number of viewable files returned in step S405 is 100, the image processing apparatus 300 Nine thumbnails are acquired.

  In step S407, the system control circuit 50 on the digital camera 100 side receives the request in step S406 and transmits nine thumbnail images having the requested FileID to the image processing apparatus 300. As a result, nine thumbnail images are displayed on the display unit 360 of the image processing apparatus 300. Note that an example of a thumbnail image screen on the display unit 360 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S <b> 408, the system control circuit 350 on the image processing apparatus 300 side requests the digital camera 100 for the main image having the FileID selected by the user among the nine thumbnail images displayed on the display unit 360.

  In step S409, the system control circuit 50 on the digital camera 100 side receives the request in step S408 and transmits the main image having the requested FileID to the image processing apparatus 300. As a result, the main image is displayed on the display unit 360 of the image processing apparatus 300.

  FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu screen displayed on the display unit 28 of the digital camera 100 when image disclosure setting is performed in step S402 of FIG.

  In step S402 in FIG. 4, the system control circuit 50 of the digital camera 100 determines whether the user releases all images (501) or selects from the start time (502), as shown in FIG. 5A. A menu screen to be selected is displayed on the display unit 28.

  When the user selects “Publish all” 501 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 5A, the system control circuit 50 allows the image processing apparatus 300 to browse all images stored in the recording medium 200. Set.

  On the other hand, when the user selects “select from start time” 502 on the menu screen of FIG. 5A, the system control circuit 50 displays the start time selection menu screen shown in FIG. Display and allow the user to select a startup time. The system control circuit 50 is set so that the image processing apparatus 300 can browse only images taken after the activation time selected on the menu screen shown in FIG. In FIG. 5B, selection is instructed by a user operation so that only an image taken after 14:00 on October 30, 2011 can be browsed by the image processing apparatus 300.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a directory configuration of the recording medium 200 of the digital camera 100. As shown in FIG. 6, a DCIM directory (601) is recorded in the root directory, and a subdirectory 100GAZOU (602) is recorded in the DCIM directory (601). The subdirectory 100GAZOU (602) includes a still image file IMG_0001. jpg (603) to IMG — 0990. jpg (615) is recorded, and the shooting time is recorded on the right side of the still image file.

  The directory structure shown in FIG. 6 conforms to the DCF standard which is a camera file system standard. Therefore, the number of the file name of the image file created every time one image is taken increases by one. Specifically, IMG_0001. The image file name of the image photographed after jpg is IMG — 0002.0002. It looks like jpg.

  In the directory configuration shown in FIG. 6, the system control circuit 50 of the digital camera 100 has IMG_0001. jpg (603) to IMG — 0990. A FileID is assigned to jpg (615). The value to be assigned is the number obtained by adding the number attached to the file name to the value obtained by multiplying the number attached to the directory name below DCIM by 1000.

  As a specific example, IMG_0001. jpg (603) is 100001 (100 × 1000 + 0001) obtained by adding 0001 to a value obtained by multiplying 100 of 100GAZOU (602) by 1000. In addition, IMG_0991. The file ID of jpg (615) is 1000991 (100 × 1000 + 0991).

  In the directory structure of the recording medium 200 shown in FIG. 6 and when the selected activation time is FIG. 5B, the system control circuit 50 sends the image processing apparatus 300 to the image processing apparatus 300 in step S405 of FIG. Only images taken after 14:00 on March 30 are transmitted.

  That is, the system control circuit 50 sets the image file IMG — 0983. jpg (607) to IMG_0991. The file ID of jpg (615) is returned to the image processing apparatus 300. Similarly, the system control circuit 50 also returns nine images, which are the number of images taken after 14:00 on October 30, 2011, in the same manner as the total number of viewable image files.

  For this reason, the image processing apparatus 300 can only browse the thumbnail / main image of the image file having the FileID taken after 14:00 on October 30, 2011 in step S406 and step S408 of FIG. In other words, the image processing device 300 cannot browse images taken before the time selected and designated on the menu screen of FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration example of a still image file recorded on the recording medium 200 of the digital camera 100. As shown in FIG. 7, the image file 701 has a marker (SOI) 702 indicating the start of the image file at the head, and then an application marker (APP1) 703 corresponding to the header portion. The image file 701 includes DQT 712, DHT 713, SOF 714, SOS 715, Compressed data 716, and EOI 717.

  The application marker (APP1) 703 is composed of the following data (1) to (6).

(1) Size (APP1 Length) 704
(2) Application marker identification code (APP1 Identifier Code) 705
(3) Date / time of image data creation (Date Time) 706,
(4) Date and time (Date Time Original) 707 when the image data was generated
(5) Other shooting information 709
(6) Thumbnail image 710
With the data structure of the image file shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to acquire the shooting time and thumbnail image of the image file.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 360 of the image processing apparatus 300 after the process of step S407 in FIG. 8 are the image files IMG — 0983. jpg (607) to IMG_0991. It is the same as FileID of jpg (615).

  For example, when the user performs a touch operation on the area displaying the image file 615 with the finger 801, the system control circuit 350 of the image processing apparatus 300 performs the main image on the touch-operated FileID digital camera 100 in step S408 of FIG. Request. Then, the system control circuit 50 of the digital camera 100 transmits the image file 615 to the image processing apparatus 300, whereby the image file 615 is enlarged and displayed on the display unit 360 of the image processing apparatus 300.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to set whether an image captured by the digital camera 100 before or after communication connection with the image processing apparatus 300 is made public or non-public with a simple operation. it can. For example, to a person who met in a park, only images taken within the time spent together can be disclosed with simple settings. On the other hand, images taken before meeting in the park can be kept private.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the time when the digital camera 100 is activated is stored in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56 is illustrated. However, only the activation time when activated in the shooting mode for capturing an image is stored in the nonvolatile memory. You may make it preserve | save in 56 databases. That is, the time when starting in the playback mode in which only the image is viewed is not stored in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56. By configuring in this way, the time when shooting was not performed is not stored / displayed, so the nonvolatile memory 56 having a relatively small capacity is sufficient, and the startup time unnecessary for the user is not displayed. Convenience is good.

  In the present embodiment, only images taken after the time designated and designated on the menu screen of FIG. 5B are disclosed, but only images taken before the time designated and designated are disclosed. It may be made public.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a digital camera that is a second embodiment of the imaging apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that portions that overlap or correspond to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings and symbols.

  In the present embodiment, the digital camera 100 is activated in the shooting mode, and the first captured image when an image is further captured is set as the public start image.

  Assume that the activation time of the digital camera 100 is the time shown in FIG. That is, October 10, 2011 12:00 (503), October 10, 2011 18:00 (504), October 30, 2011 13:55 (505), October 30, 2011 14:00 (506).

  An example of an image recorded on the recording medium 200 of the digital camera 100 at this time is shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, a portion surrounded by a line 901 is an image taken from the time the power was turned on at 12:00 on October 10, 2011 until the power was turned off. That is, IMG — 0001. Only one image of jpg (603) is taken and the power of the digital camera 100 is turned off. At this time, IMG — 0001. The photographing time of jpg (603) is stored in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56 of the digital camera 100.

  A portion surrounded by a line 902 is an image (604 to 607) taken from the time when the digital camera 100 was turned on at 18:00 on October 10, 2011 until the power was turned off. In this case, IMG — 0002. The shooting time of jpg (604) is stored in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56 of the digital camera 100.

  A portion surrounded by a line 903 is an image (607 to 615) taken from the time when the digital camera 100 was turned on at 14:00 on October 30, 2011 until the power was turned off. In this case, IMG — 0983. The shooting time of jpg (607) is stored in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56 of the digital camera 100.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a menu screen (publication start image selection screen) displayed on the display unit 28 of the digital camera instead of the menu screen shown in FIG. In FIG. 10, an area 1001 corresponds to a portion surrounded by a line 901 in FIG. 9, and an image IMG — 0001. This is a touch button for selecting jpg (603), and displays a thumbnail image together with the shooting time.

  An area 1002 corresponds to a portion surrounded by a line 902 in FIG. 9, and an image IMG_0002. This is a touch button for selecting jpg (604), and displays a thumbnail image together with the shooting time.

  An area 1003 corresponds to a portion surrounded by a line 903 in FIG. 9, and an image IMG — 0983. This is a touch button for selecting jpg (607), and displays a thumbnail image together with the shooting time.

  Then, when the touch button in the area 1003 is operated, the system control circuit 50 refers to the database in the nonvolatile memory 56 in step S405 in FIG. 4 and displays the image file (608 to 615) surrounded by the line 903 in FIG. ) Is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 300.

  When the touch button in the area 1002 is operated, the system control circuit 50 sets the FileID of the image file (604 to 615) enclosed by the lines 902 and 903 in FIG. 9 to the image processing apparatus 300 in step S405 in FIG. Send to. As a result, all the photographed images after the photographing time of the image file first photographed in the portion surrounded by the line 902 in FIG. 9 are transmitted to the image processing apparatus 300 and released.

  Similarly, when the touch button in the area 1001 is operated, the system control circuit 50 performs the file ID of the image file (603 to 615) of the portion surrounded by the lines 901, 902, and 903 in FIG. 9 in step S405 in FIG. Is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 300.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example of the digital camera 100 configured as described above. Each process in FIG. 11 is executed by the system control circuit 50 by developing a program stored in the nonvolatile memory 56 or the like in the memory 52.

  In step S1101, the system control circuit 50 sets the first sheet flag to 1 when the power is turned on, and proceeds to step S1102.

  In step S <b> 1102, the system control circuit 50 distributes processing according to a user operation on the mode dial 60, the operation unit 70, or the main switch 72. Specifically, when the power-off operation is performed, the system control circuit 50 turns off the power and ends the processing. When shooting is selected, the system control circuit 50 proceeds to step S1103 and displays an image on the image processing apparatus 300. When the communication connection for publishing is selected, the process proceeds to step S1109. In addition, when any item other than power-off, shooting, and communication connection is selected, the system control circuit 50 executes processing according to the request in step S1115 and returns to step S1102.

  In step S1103, the system control circuit 50 acquires the current time from the RTC 120, stores it in the memory 52, and proceeds to step S1104.

  In step S1104, the system control circuit 50 performs a shooting operation and proceeds to step S1105.

  In step S1105, the system control circuit 50 creates an image file of the captured image and writes it in the recording medium 200, and the system control circuit 50 proceeds to 1106. The directory structure of the recording medium 200 here is the same as that shown in FIGS. The data structure of the image file is the same as that shown in FIG. Note that the time acquired in step S1103 is recorded in Date Time (706) and Date Time Original (707) in FIG.

  In step S1106, the system control circuit 50 determines the value of the first frame flag. If it is not 1, the process returns to step S1102, and if the first frame flag is 1, it is the first image taken after activation. And the process proceeds to step S1107.

  In step S1107, the system control circuit 50 records the time saved in the memory 52 in step S1103 in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56, and proceeds to step S1108.

  In step S1108, the system control circuit 50 sets the first sheet flag to 0 and returns to step S1102. When the image is taken after that, since the first image flag is 0, the process of recording the time in the database is performed in step S1107 until the digital camera 100 is turned off and the image is taken again. Absent.

  On the other hand, in step S <b> 1109, the system control circuit 50 performs database read processing of the nonvolatile memory 56. Specifically, the system control circuit 50 obtains the time and image taken first after activation from the database of the nonvolatile memory 56, and proceeds to step S1110.

  In step S1110, the system control circuit 50 creates the menu screen shown in FIG. 10, displays the created menu screen on the display unit 28, and proceeds to step S1111.

  In step S <b> 1111, the system control circuit 50 determines a File ID to be transmitted to the image processing apparatus 300 in response to a user operation on the menu screen of the display unit 28, and proceeds to step S <b> 1112. The method for determining the FileID to be transmitted here is as described with reference to FIGS.

  In step S1112, the system control circuit 50 waits for a FileID acquisition request from the image processing apparatus 300. When receiving the request in step S113, the system control circuit 50 transmits a FileID corresponding to the request, and proceeds to step S1114.

  In step S1114, the system control circuit 50 transmits a thumbnail image and a main image in response to a request from the image processing apparatus 300, and the process returns to step S1102. Other configurations and operational effects are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, one of the areas 1001 to 1003 of the menu screen shown in FIG. 10 is selected, and the captured images after the imaging time of the first image captured in the selected area are made public. However, only the image of the selected area may be disclosed.

  For example, when the area 1001 and the area 1002 are selected and operated on the menu screen shown in FIG. 10, the file ID of the image file surrounded by the lines 901 and 902 in FIG. You may make it transmit to the processing apparatus 300. FIG. Similarly, when the area 1001 and the area 1003 are selected on the menu screen shown in FIG. 10, the FileID of the image file surrounded by the lines 901 and 903 in FIG. 9 is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 300. That's fine. Furthermore, when only one area, for example, the area 1002 is selected from the areas 1001 to 1003 of the menu screen shown in FIG. 10, only the FileID of the image file surrounded by the line 902 in FIG. It transmits to the processing apparatus 300. In this way, it is possible to publish to the image processing apparatus 300 only images that have been taken since the digital camera 100 was activated at a specific time until the power was turned off.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the shot image after the shooting time of the first shot image of the area selected on the menu screen shown in FIG. 10 is disclosed, but the image of only the start time zone of the selected area is displayed. May be made public. Furthermore, only images taken before the first shooting time or before the start time of the selected area may be disclosed.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a digital camera which is a third embodiment of the imaging apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that portions overlapping or corresponding to the first or second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings and symbols.

  In the present embodiment, the start time and shooting time set by the user are recorded in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56 of the digital camera 100 and then recorded in the database when connected to the image processing apparatus 300 for communication. Reflect start-up time and shooting time.

  In the present embodiment, the menu screen shown in FIG. 12 is displayed on the display unit 28 of the digital camera 100 instead of the menu screen shown in FIG. “Publish all” 1201 on the menu screen in FIG. 12 is the same as “Publish all” 501 in FIG. In addition, when “select from shooting start image” 1202 is selected by a user operation on the menu screen of FIG. 12, the menu screen shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the display unit 28.

  On the other hand, when “continue previous setting” 1203 is selected by a user operation on the menu screen shown in FIG. 12, the system control circuit 50 continues the previous connection setting as it is. For example, in the menu screen shown in FIG. 10, the user selects the area 1002 at the time of the previous communication connection with the image processing apparatus 300, and the IMG — 0983. It is assumed that the setting is made so that images shot after the shooting time of jpg (607) are disclosed to the image processing apparatus 300. After that, when the communication connection with the image processing apparatus 300 is disconnected and reconnected due to power off or the like, it is assumed that “continue previous setting” 1203 is selected by the user operation on the menu screen shown in FIG.

  In this case, the system control circuit 50, in step S405 of FIG. FileID of an image shot after the shooting time of jpg (607) is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 300.

  With this configuration, it is not necessary for the user to select and operate the image and the activation time every time the digital camera 100 is activated, so that it is possible to save the trouble of setting the image disclosure. Other configurations and operational effects are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the above description, the case where the activation time is stored in the database of the nonvolatile memory 56 is illustrated, but the first photographing time after the activation may be recorded.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to what was illustrated by said each embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it can change suitably.

  For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the image selection or the like in the case where the image captured by the digital camera 100 is disclosed to the image processing apparatus 300 that is connected to the digital camera 100 is exemplified. The present invention may be applied to selection or the like.

  The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed. It can also be realized by executing software (program) acquired via a network or various storage media on a personal computer (CPU, processor).

28 Display unit 50 System control circuit 56 Non-volatile memory 100 Digital camera 110 Communication unit 112 Antenna 200 Recording medium 300 Image processing apparatus

Claims (10)

A communication means for communicating with an external device;
Storage means for storing a plurality of startup times;
Display means for displaying the activation time saved by the saving means;
An activation time selection means for selecting the activation time displayed on the display means by a user operation;
Image selection means for selecting an image to be released from among the captured images,
The imaging apparatus, wherein the image selection unit selects the image to be disclosed based on the activation time selected by the activation time selection unit. The image selection means selects an image to be displayed on the external device from the captured images as the image to be disclosed,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit transmits the image selected by the image selection unit to the external device.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image selection unit selects an image taken before or after the activation time selected by the activation time selection unit as the image to be disclosed.   3. The image selection unit according to claim 1, wherein the image selection unit selects, as the image to be disclosed, an image that has been captured after the startup time selected by the startup time selection unit and before the power is turned off. Imaging device.   The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the activation time is a time when the apparatus is activated in an imaging mode for imaging an image.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation time is a time at which an image is first captured after activation.   The image pickup apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the display unit displays an image taken first after the start-up with the start-up time. A method of controlling an imaging apparatus including a communication unit that communicates with an external device,
A storage step for storing multiple startup times;
A display step for displaying the activation time saved in the saving step;
An activation time selection step of selecting the activation time displayed in the display step by a user operation;
An image selection step of selecting an image to be released from among the captured images,
The image selection step selects the image to be disclosed based on the activation time selected in the activation time selection step. A program for controlling an imaging apparatus including a communication unit that communicates with an external device,
A storage step for storing multiple startup times;
A display step for displaying the activation time saved in the saving step;
An activation time selection step of selecting the activation time displayed in the display step by a user operation;
An image selection step of selecting an image to be released from among the captured images;
The image selecting step selects the image to be disclosed based on the activation time selected in the activation time selection step. The program according to claim 9 is stored,
A computer-readable storage medium characterized by the above.