JP3079627B2 - Recording device and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method for recording image information and audio information on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, DRAMs and SRAs have been used as recording media.
An electronic still camera using a memory card having a solid-state memory element such as an M or EEPROM has been proposed. In the electronic still camera, a method of managing a storage area of a memory card by dividing the storage area into a plurality of blocks (hereinafter, referred to as clusters) having a predetermined storage capacity is used. It is defined so that it can be recorded.

[0003]

However, for example, when recording an image and a sound in association with each other, the user can individually select a compression method (mode) for the image and the sound.
The user sometimes feels uncomfortable at the time of reproduction due to the difference in the compression ratio between the image and the sound.

[0004] The present invention aims at providing a serial <br/> recording apparatus and method to overcome this disadvantage.

[0005]

A recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus for recording image information and audio information on a recording medium, wherein image information to be recorded is inputted, and a plurality of the inputted image information are inputted. In any of the compression modes
Image information processing means to be compressed and audio information to be recorded are input, and the input audio information is assigned to any of a plurality of compression modes.
A voice information processing means for compressing in mind compression mode, the compression mode designation means for designating a compression mode information to be recorded, when recording in association with the image information and audio information,
The compression mode specified by the compression mode specifying means.
Supported compression modes for image information and audio information
Said image information processing means to select a combination with
And characterized by having a control means for controlling the operation of the voice information processing means.

According to the recording method of the present invention, image information and sound
A recording method for recording voice information on a recording medium, comprising:
Compression mode specification step to specify the compression mode
And the pressure specified in the compression mode specifying step.
Compression mode for image information and audio information
A determining step of determining a combination with the compression mode;
Enter the image information to be recorded and copy the input image information.
Pressure determined in said determining step in a number of compression modes
Image processing step to compress in compression mode, and
Input audio information and compress the input audio information into multiple
Compression mode determined in the determination step in the mode
And a voice information processing step of compressing with
And

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention applied to an electronic still camera having a reproducing function will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a recording system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a reproducing system. Components common to the recording system and the reproduction system are denoted by the same reference numerals.

1 and 2, A is a camera body,
B is a memory card that is detachable from the camera body A.
The storage area of the memory card B is divided into a card management area and a data area, and the data area is divided in units called clusters. Information such as images, sounds, and data to be recorded is handled in units called packets. The card management area includes header, packet identification,
It consists of a directory and a memory allocation table (MAT). The format number,
The card number, the number of remaining clusters, the number of used clusters, the last used packet number, the head unused cluster number, the card label, and the like are recorded. The packet identification is composed of the type and attribute of each recorded packet and related information between the packets. The directory is the start of each packet.
Consists of the cluster number. In the memory allocation table, the number of each cluster connected to the cluster is recorded.

The data area is logically handled in units of packets. The packet consists of a packet header and packet data of an arbitrary length. The packet header consists of packet information, date and title. In the packet information, an image or audio encoding method, a compression mode, and a recording mode are recorded. In the case of an image, the number of horizontal / vertical pixels and the aspect ratio of the pixels are further recorded. Packets are physically distributed and recorded in a plurality of clusters.

First, the basic operation of the recording system shown in FIG. 1 will be briefly described. The procedure for storing the image information in the memory card B is as follows. That is, the subject image is incident on the photoelectric conversion surface of the image sensor 14 by the shutter 12 for a predetermined time by the photographing lens 10, and the image sensor 14 converts the optical image into an electric signal. An image signal from the image pickup device 14 is output by a timing pulse from a timing pulse generation circuit 16, converted and separated into a luminance signal and a chrominance signal by a video signal processing circuit 18, and supplied to an A / D converter 20.
The A / D converter 20 includes a timing pulse generation circuit 16
, The analog input is digitized and applied to the image memory 22. The address counter 22 increments the held address according to the timing pulse from the timing pulse generation circuit 16, and the output data of the A / D converter 20 is written to the address indicated by the address counter 24. .

When image data for one screen is written in the image memory 22, the data stored in the image memory 22 is read from the address by the address counter 26, and the data compression circuits 26, which have different compression methods or compression ratios, respectively. 2
The data is applied to the data compression circuit (for example, the circuit 26) selected by the switch 32 out of 8, 30. As a compression method, for example, adaptive difference type PCM (ADPCM)
And an adaptive discrete cosine transform (ADCT).
The data compressed by the data compression circuit (for example, the circuit 26) is written to the image memory 22 again.

The compression by the compression circuits 26, 28, 30
Different compression formats may be used, or different compression ratios may be used for the same compression format.

When the compression processing of the image data for one screen is completed, the error correction code generation circuit 36 generates an error correction code (CRC, Reed-Solomon code, etc.) in units of a predetermined number of compressed data. This error correction code is written at a predetermined address accompanying the compressed data stored in the image memory 22. The image data (compressed data) to which the error correction code has been added is read from the address specified by the address counter 38 and supplied to the external memory card B via the memory card interface 40. .

The memory card B has an interface 4
4. It comprises a memory control circuit 46 and a memory circuit 48.
Prior to storing the image data, the system control circuit 50
Management data (head cluster number, attribute of storage data, data compression method, correspondence with other storage data, etc.) is supplied to the memory card B via the interface 40, and the memory control circuit 46 Based on
The first cluster number at which storage is started is set in the cluster address pointer, and the memory address pointer indicating the memory address in the cluster is reset. The data supplied via the interface 44 is stored in a memory address
Stored at the address indicated by the pointer, memory address
The pointer is incremented to prepare for storing the next data. This operation is repeated for each predetermined amount of image data until one image data is stored in the memory circuit 48.

The system control circuit 50 stores the image data (the same applies to the following audio data) in the memory circuit 4.
When it is confirmed that the data is stored in one cluster of No. 8 (actually, it is recognized by counting the number of transfer data with a counter), the transfer of the image data to the memory card B is temporarily stopped. When the memory card B is connected to the camera body A, the memory management data of the memory card B is read out and stored in a memory (not shown) as search data. The number (address) of an unused cluster that can store image data is checked, and the obtained cluster number is transferred to the memory control circuit 46 of the memory card B. The memory control circuit 46 sets the transferred cluster number in the cluster address pointer and resets the memory address pointer. The system control circuit 50
After transferring the cluster number to the memory control circuit 46, the counter for counting the number of transfer of the image data is reset, and the transfer of the image data is restarted.

After one image data is stored in the memory card B as described above, the system control circuit 50
Transfers the management data to the memory card B. This management data is stored in the memory circuit 4 by the memory control circuit 46.
8 in a predetermined area. Thereby, the fact that the image has been recorded is registered.

The procedure for recording voice information on the memory card B is as follows. That is, the audio signal output from the microphone 52 is amplified by the amplifier 54, and the noise is reduced by the noise reduction circuit 56. A / D converter 5
8 digitizes the output of the noise reduction circuit 56 by the timing pulse from the timing pulse generation circuit 60 and applies it to the audio memory 62. The address counter 64 increments the held address in response to the timing pulse from the timing pulse generation circuit 60, and the output data of the A / D converter 58 is written to the address indicated by the address counter 64. .

The system control circuit 50 monitors the count value of the address counter 64, and selects one of the data compression circuits 68, 70, 72 by the switch 66 every predetermined time (or every predetermined number of data). , And perform data compression. The data compression circuits 68, 70, and 72 compress the audio data using different compression methods or compression ratios. Examples of the compression method include adaptive differential PCM (ADPCM) and adaptive delta conversion (ADM). The data compressed by the data compression circuit (for example, the circuit 68) is written into the audio memory 62 again. An address for reading data from the audio memory 62 and writing compressed data to the audio memory 62 for data compression is defined by an address counter 74.

The compression by these data compression circuits 68, 70, 72 is performed even if the same compression format and a different compression ratio are used.
Different compression formats may be used.

An error correction code generation circuit 76 generates an error correction code (CRC, Reed-Solomon code, etc.) for the compressed audio data in units of a predetermined number of compressed data. This error correction code is written at a predetermined address accompanying the compressed data stored in the audio memory 62. At this time, the address counter 74 is used.

When the audio data that can be stored in one cluster of the memory card B is stored in the audio memory 62, the system control circuit 50 can record from the search data of the memory card B (unused data). ) Find the cluster,
The obtained cluster number is transferred to the memory control circuit 46 of the memory card B via the interfaces 40 and 44. The memory control circuit 46 sets the transferred cluster number in the cluster address pointer, and sets the memory address in the cluster as a memory address.
Reset the pointer. The system control circuit 50 waits for a predetermined time after transferring the cluster number (or
According to the data transfer request from the card B), the address counter 78 reads the audio data (compressed data) and its error correction code from the audio memory 62, and
Transfer to card B.

In the memory card B, the transferred data is stored in the memory circuit 48 at the address indicated by the memory address pointer, and the memory address pointer is incremented to prepare for storing the next data. This operation is repeated until one cluster of data is stored in the memory circuit 48.

The system control circuit 50 transfers the management data to the memory card B when the address counter 78 confirms that the voice compressed data for one cluster has been transferred to the memory card B. This management data is stored in a predetermined location of the memory circuit 48. This registers that the voice has been recorded in the cluster.

In this embodiment, the image data compression circuit 34
And audio data compression circuit 68, image data compression circuit 3
6, the audio data compression circuit 70, the image data compression circuit 38, and the audio data compression circuit 72 have a compression method and / or a compression ratio that make reproduction signal quality comparable to each other. Although the details will be described later, when the image and the sound are recorded in association with each other (for example, when the image and the sound are recorded substantially simultaneously or when the image or the sound is dubbed), the sound is converted into the data when the image is compressed by the data compression circuit 34. Compression circuit 68
When the image is compressed by the data compression circuit 36, the audio is compressed by the data compression circuit 70, and when the image is compressed by the data compression circuit 38, the audio is compressed by the data compression circuit 72.

The basic operation of the reproduction system shown in FIG. 2 will be described. The image reproducing operation is as follows. The user specifies an image to be reproduced and an image to be reproduced by using the operation switch 80. For example, when the image playback mode is selected by the operation switch 80, the number of the first cluster in which the image is recorded is displayed on the display device 82 from the above-described search data, and the image to be reproduced is displayed on the operation switch 80 by the user. Specify by. The system control circuit 50 transfers the head cluster number of the image to be reproduced to the memory control circuit 46 via the interfaces 40 and 44. The memory control circuit 46 sets the transferred cluster number in the cluster address pointer, and sets the memory address in the cluster.
The memory address pointer indicating the address is reset, the data stored in the designated cluster is sequentially read out while incrementing the memory address pointer, and transmitted to the camera body A via the interface 44.

The system control circuit 50 mutes the video output of the video signal processing circuit 98 and resets the address counter 38 so as to point to the head address of the image memory 22. Address counter 38
Thereafter, the data is incremented in synchronization with the data transfer from the memory card B, and the data from the memory card B is sequentially written to the image memory 22 via the interface 40. When the image compressed data (including the error correction code) for one cluster is stored in the image memory 22, the system control circuit 50 checks whether or not there is a cluster in which the subsequent data is stored from the above search data. If so, reading from the corresponding cluster and storage in the image memory 22 are continued.

When one image of compressed image data and its error correction code are stored in the image memory 22, the error detection and correction circuit 86 performs error detection and correction using the error correction code.
The error-corrected image compressed data is written to the image memory 22. Needless to say, at the time of writing to the image memory 22, the added error correction code is removed.
An address for reading data from the image memory 22 and writing data to the image memory 22 when an error is detected is defined by an address counter 26.

After the error correction, the system control circuit 50
Checks the compression method of the image from the management data, and selects the data expansion circuit corresponding to the compression method from the data expansion circuits 90, 92, and 94 by the switch 88. When there is no corresponding data decompression circuit, the display device 82 warns the user. Under the address control by the address counter 26, the image compression data is read from the image memory 22 and the data decompression circuit 9 selected by the switch 88 is read.
0, 92, 94 to expand the data, and
Write to.

At the end of the data decompression processing, the system control circuit 50 releases the video signal processing circuit 98 from the mute state,
Read image data from. The address counter 24 increments the held address according to the timing pulse from the timing pulse generation circuit 16. The D / A converter 96 controls the image memory 2 according to the timing pulse from the timing pulse generation circuit 16.
2 is converted into an analog signal and applied to the video signal processing circuit 98. The video signal processing circuit 98
A / A converter 96 adds a synchronizing signal to the analog image signal and converts it into a standard format video signal as a video output terminal 100.
Output to

The sound reproducing operation will be described. The sound reproduction is performed when the operation switch 80 specifies the same as in the case of the image reproduction, or when the sound is recorded in association with the image to be reproduced. The system control circuit 50 checks, from the above-mentioned search data, the cluster number at the head where the sound specified by the operation switch 80 or the sound to be reproduced at the same time as the reproduced image is recorded, from the search data, and the memory control circuit via the interfaces 40 and 44. Transfer to 46. The memory control circuit 46 operates similarly to the case of the image,
Data of one cluster is read from the memory circuit 48,
The data is transmitted to the camera body A via the interface 44. The system control circuit 50 puts the audio signal processing circuit 114 into an output mute state as in the case of image reproduction.

The compressed audio data and its error correction code from the memory card B are applied to the audio memory 62 via the interface 40, and are sequentially stored in the audio memory 62 by the address counter 78. The error detection and correction circuit 102 performs error detection and correction using an error correction code, and writes the error-corrected audio compressed data into the audio memory 62. Needless to say, when writing to the audio memory 62, the added error correction code is removed. An address for reading data from the audio memory 62 and writing data to the image memory 62 at the time of error detection is defined by an address counter 74.

After the error correction, the system control circuit 50
Examines the compression method of the voice from the management data, and switches 104 to decompress circuits 106, 108, and 11
From 0, a data decompression circuit corresponding to the compression method is selected.
If there is no corresponding data decompression circuit, the display device 82
Warns the user. Under the address control by the address counter 74, the compressed audio data is read from the audio memory 62, the data is expanded by the data expansion circuits 106, 108 and 110 selected by the switch 104, and written to the audio memory 62. As a result, the original audio data is restored.

After the data decompression processing is completed, the audio memory 62
Are sequentially read out under the control of the address counter 64. The address counter 64 increments the held address according to the timing pulse from the timing pulse generation circuit 60. The D / A converter 112 converts the audio data from the audio memory 62 into an analog signal in accordance with the timing pulse from the timing pulse generation circuit 60, and
14. The system control circuit 50 releases the audio signal processing circuit 114 from the mute state, and the audio signal processing circuit 114 smoothes the analog audio signal from the D / A converter 112, adjusts the level as necessary, and sends it to the audio output terminal 116. Output.

The system control circuit 50 sequentially reads the recorded data from the cluster in which the audio following the audio being reproduced is recorded, transfers the data to the audio memory 62, and performs the same processing as described above. This is repeated until the continuous sound ends (that is, until all clusters in which a series of sounds are recorded are reproduced).

The operation of the system control circuit 50 during recording will be described in detail. 3, 4 and 5 show the operation flowchart as a whole.

When the power is turned on, the system control circuit 50 initializes flags, control variables, and the like (S1), and confirms the setting of the memory card B (S2). The management data is read from the set memory card B (S3), and if all the clusters are unused, the recording mode is set naturally, and if there are no unused clusters, the reproduction mode is set (S4, 5).
If there is an unused cluster, the mode is set to the reproduction mode or the recording mode according to the operation mode flag (S6).

When the operation mode flag is the recording mode,
First, it is determined whether or not the circuit system is in a recording mode operation state (S7). If not, the recording mode state is set (S8). For example, the video output and the audio output are muted (S8).

When the state change of the compression mode changeover switch 84 is detected, the specified compression mode # 1, # 2, # 3
The data compression circuits 28, 68; 30, 70; 32, 72 are selected by switching the switches 34, 66 in response to (S10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16).

Thereafter, an image recording request or a sound recording request by the operation switch 80 is awaited. In response to the image recording request (S17), it is checked whether the number of unused clusters is sufficient to record an image in the set image compression mode (S1).
8) If sufficient, the image sensor 14 is stored in the image memory 22.
Is stored (S19), compressed in the selected compression mode (S20), and recorded on the memory card B (S21). If not, a warning is displayed on the display device 82 (S22).

In response to the voice recording request (S23), it is checked whether or not there is an unused cluster (S24). If there is no unused cluster, a warning is issued by the display device 82 and the voice input operation is stopped (S32, 33). If there is an unused cluster, the system control circuit 50 activates the audio input system, and starts taking in the audio input by the microphone 52 into the audio memory 62 (S25).

When a stop request from the operation switch 80 is input (S27), or when one cluster of audio data is taken into the audio memory 62 (S28), the audio data in the audio memory 62 is stored in the selected compression mode. After compression (S29), the compressed audio data is recorded on the memory card B together with the error correction code (S30). If there is a stop request (S31), the voice input operation is stopped,
If there is no stop request (S31), as long as there is an unused cluster (S26), voice input and recording on the memory card B are continued, and if there is no unused cluster (S2).
6) A warning is given by the display device 82 to stop the voice input operation (S32, 33).

In the above embodiment, the memory card is used as the information recording medium. However, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a recording apparatus using a disk-shaped recording medium or a tape-shaped recording medium.

[0043]

Effect of the Invention] As can be easily understood from the above description
According to the present invention, the compression mode of the information to be recorded is specified.
The compression mode for image information and the
Determine the combination of compression modes, and
Since image information and audio information are compressed and recorded,
Make the quality of image information and audio information so
Can be

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a recording system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural block diagram of reshaping.

FIG. 3 is a part of a flowchart of the system control circuit 50 at the time of recording.

FIG. 4 is a part of a flowchart of the system control circuit 50 at the time of recording.

FIG. 5 is a part of a flowchart of the system control circuit 50 at the time of recording.

[Explanation of symbols]

A: Camera body B: Memory card 10: Photographing lens 12: Shutter 14: Image sensor 16: Timing pulse generation circuit 18: Video signal processing circuit 20: A
/ D converter 22: Image memory 24, 26: Address counter 28, 30, 32: Data compression circuit 3
4: switch 36: error correction code generation circuit 38: address counter 40, 44: interface 4
6: Memory control circuit 48: Memory circuit 50: System control circuit 52: Microphone 54: Amplifier 56: Noise reduction circuit 58: A / D converter 60: Timing /
Pulse generation circuit 62: Voice memory 64: Address /
Counter 66: Switches 68, 70, 72: Data compression circuit 74: Address counter 76: Error correction code generation circuit 78: Address counter 80: Operation switch 82: Display device 84: Compression mode switch 86: Error detection and correction circuit 88: Switch 9
0, 92, 94: data decompression circuit 96: D / A converter 98: video signal processing circuit 100: video output terminal 1
02: error detection and correction circuit 104: switch 106,
108, 110: Data expansion circuit 112: D / A converter 114: Audio signal processing circuit 116: Audio output terminal

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for recording image information and audio information on a recording medium, comprising the steps of inputting image information to be recorded, and duplicating the input image information .
Image information processing means for compressing in any one of a number of compression modes, audio information to be recorded is input, and the input audio information is duplicated.
A voice information processing means for compressing the number any compression mode in the compression mode, the compression mode designation means for designating a compression mode information to be recorded, when recorded in association with image information and audio information, wherein
Supports the compression mode specified by the compression mode specification means
Between the compressed image information compression mode and audio information compression mode
Said image information processing means so as to select a combination;
Yes and control means for controlling the operation of the voice information processing means
A recording device, comprising: (2)Record image information and audio information on recording media
Recording method, Specifying the compression mode of the information to be recorded
Steps and The compression mode specified in the compression mode specifying step
Compression mode for image information and compression mode for audio information
A determining step of determining a combination with the code, Enter the image information to be recorded and copy the input image information.
Pressure determined in said determining step in a number of compression modes
An image information processing step of compressing in a compression mode; Enter the audio information to be recorded, and copy the input audio information.
Pressure determined in said determining step in a number of compression modes
Voice information processing step of compressing in a compression mode.
A recording method characterized by the following.