JP3119398B2 - Information signal processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information signal processing device for processing an information signal, and more particularly to an information signal processing device for recording an information signal on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an information signal processing device for processing an information signal, for example, an image signal or an audio signal is recorded on a plurality of concentric tracks formed on a magnetic disk. There is an electronic still video system that arbitrarily selects a recording track and reproduces an image signal or an audio signal recorded on the selected recording track.

The above-mentioned electronic still video system is designed to record an image signal or an audio signal on a recording track on a magnetic disk in the form of an analog signal. A plurality of RAMs (Random Ac) are stored in a semiconductor memory device such as a D-RAM, an S-RAM, and an EEP-ROM.
A new system has also emerged that records data on a built-in memory card.

The above-mentioned memory card has a limited storage capacity due to the storage capacity per chip of the memory element and the number of chips of the memory element that can be mounted on the card. At present, it cannot be used as a recording medium having a large storage capacity because it is expensive.

On the other hand, a hard disk device is known to be a recording medium having a larger storage capacity than the memory card, and a recent hard disk device has a main unit similar to the memory card. By using the hard disk device as a recording medium in an electronic still video system, a system having a large storage capacity can be configured at a relatively low cost.

There are various types of the above-mentioned hard disk devices depending on recording capacity, weight, power consumption, recording speed, and the like. If a system is configured so that these plural types of hard disk devices can be mounted, various types of users can be provided. It is possible to respond to requests.

[0007] The above-described system uses a digitized image signal for one screen (ie, image data) or a voice signal for a predetermined period (ie, audio data).
Is recorded as a data file on a recording medium such as a memory card or a hard disk, the recording area of the recording medium is divided into an information data recording area and a management data recording area, and the image data or audio data is divided into units called clusters. The data is divided and recorded in the information data recording area, and information data indicating the use state of each cluster is recorded in the management data recording area.

When the data file of the image data or the audio data is recorded over a plurality of clusters, the position of the cluster where the image data or the audio data is recorded is recorded when the image data or the audio data is recorded. Is stored in the management data memory provided in the system control circuit, the image data or the audio data is recorded in the information data recording area, and after the recording of the image data or the audio data is completed, the The information data indicating the use state of each cluster stored in the management data memory provided in the management data memory is recorded in the management data recording area.

The data file of image data or audio data recorded on a recording medium such as a memory card or a hard disk as described above is read out from the recording medium in units of data files, and is read from an external computer or a printer. , Transferred to an external device such as a data transmission device, where processing, printing,
It is configured to perform data transmission processing and the like, and each data file recorded on the recording medium is treated as a single file.

When a predetermined data file recorded on a recording medium is read, the data file is read in confusion with another data file, or when a predetermined data file recorded on the recording medium is erased, another data file is deleted. When recording data files on a recording medium, it is necessary to add an individual identification number to each data file and record it so that it is not mistakenly deleted as a data file. For example, in the case of a system that records an image data file on a recording medium, the number of photographed recording screens is counted during the photographing / recording operation, and the counted number of photographed recording screens is stored in the system main body. An identification number corresponding to the number of shooting recording screens is generated, and the generated identification number is added to an image data file and recorded on a recording medium. It is.

[0011]

However, since the above-mentioned electronic still video camera is a portable device, it depends on a battery for power supply. There is a need to replace the battery.

When the battery installed in the system main unit becomes exhausted or the battery is removed from the system main unit to replace the battery, the number of photographing and recording screens stored in the system main unit is reduced as described above. When the camera is reset and the shooting and recording operation is performed after the battery is replaced, the same identification number as that already added to the image data file already recorded on the recording medium is added to the new image data file, and the recording is performed. Then, a predetermined image data file recorded on the recording medium is read and transferred to an external device such as an external computer, a printer device, a data transmission device, etc., and the external device performs processing, printing, and data transmission processing. When reading, etc., it is confused with other data files and read, There has been a problem that you or erroneously erased by mistake with other data files at the time of erasing the data files.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a nonvolatile memory is provided in the system main body, and the number of photographed recording screens counted is stored in the nonvolatile memory at the time of photographing / recording operation. As described above, the number of recording screens stored in the non-volatile memory in the system main unit is reset even if the battery installed in the system runs out or the battery is removed from the system main unit for battery replacement. However, the nonvolatile memory has a limit in the number of times of data rewriting, and if the number of times of rewriting of data relating to the number of photographing / recording screens exceeds the number of times of data rewriting of the nonvolatile memory, the data relating to the number of photographing / recording screens will be lost. If it is not updated correctly, the same identification number as the identification number added to the image data file already recorded on the recording medium Is added to Tana image data file, there is a problem that is recorded.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has a simple structure and adds, to a recording medium, management information corresponding to an order in which information signals are recorded on a recording medium. When recording on the medium, it is possible to prevent erroneous management information from being added to the information signal, and to read out the information signal recorded on the recording medium in the correct order and perform various processes in another device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a user-friendly information signal processing device which can be deleted or erased.

[0015]

An information signal processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information signal processing apparatus for recording an input information signal on a recording medium, and a measuring means for measuring the cumulative number of the input information signals. Storage means for storing management information corresponding to the cumulative number measured by the measurement means for each of a plurality of predetermined input numbers, and further outputting the management information as a reference value for measurement by the measurement means; Recording means for inputting an information signal, adding management information corresponding to the cumulative number to the input information signal, and recording the information signal on a recording medium; and supplying power required for operating the information signal processing device. Power supply means, and when it is detected that the power supply in the power supply means has been interrupted, management information corresponding to the cumulative number stored in the storage means is transmitted to the measurement means. Yo Control means for updating the accumulated number to be measured so as not to overlap even if the predetermined plurality of input numbers are accumulated. Further, the information signal processing device of the present invention is an information signal processing device for recording an information signal to be photographed on a recording medium, wherein the measuring device measures a cumulative number of information signals to be photographed, A first storage unit for temporarily updating and storing management information corresponding to the cumulative number, and a cumulative number corresponding to the cumulative number temporarily stored in the first storage unit for each of a plurality of predetermined photographing numbers. A second storage unit that updates and stores the management information in a nonvolatile manner, a recording unit that adds the management information temporarily stored in the first storage unit to the captured information signal, and records the information signal on a recording medium; A power supply unit for supplying power required when operating the information signal processing device, a main switch for putting the information signal processing device in a usable state, and when the main switch is turned on, The second And control means for storing management information corresponding to the cumulative number stored in the storage means in the first storage means, wherein the control means has stopped the power supply in the power supply means. Is detected, the management information corresponding to the cumulative number to be temporarily stored in the first storage means is stored in the second storage means, The update is performed for several minutes so that the update does not overlap.

[0016]

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic still video system to which the present invention is applied as a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a photographing optical system constituted by a photographing lens, 12 denotes an exposure control member constituted by an aperture function, a shutter mechanism and the like, and 14 denotes a photographing optical system 10 and an exposure control member 12 through the exposure control member 12. An image sensor 16 converts an optical image to be formed into an image signal as an electrical signal. An analog / digital (A / D) converter 16 digitizes an analog image signal output from the image sensor 14 and outputs the digital image signal as image data. A clock 18 supplies various signals such as a clock signal and a control signal to the image sensor 14, the A / D converter 16, a memory control circuit 20 described later, and a digital / analog (D / A) converter 36 described later. A clock signal generating circuit,
8 is controlled by a memory control circuit 20 and a system control circuit 50 described later.

Reference numeral 22 denotes an adaptive discrete cosine transform (ADCT)
An image compression / decompression circuit 24 for compressing or decompressing image data by a method for compressing / decompressing information such as information, and 24 is an image memory.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a memory control circuit for controlling the clock signal generation circuit 18, the image compression / decompression circuit 22, and the image memory 24. The image data output from the A / D converter 16 is stored in the memory control circuit. The data is written to the image memory 24 via the memory 20.

When the image data is compressed, the image data written in the image memory 24 is read out as described above, and the read out image data is compressed by the image compression / decompression circuit 22 and then again. When writing to the image memory 24 and expanding the image data, the compressed image data stored in the image memory 24 is read, and the read image data is expanded by the image compression / expansion circuit 22. Thereafter, the image data is written into the image memory 24 again.

Reference numeral 36 denotes a D / A converter, and reference numeral 38 denotes an image display device such as an electronic viewfinder, for example, which stores image data stored in the image memory 24 into the memory control circuit 20.
The D / A converter 36 converts the read image data into an analog signal so that an image signal formed can be visualized and displayed.

In this embodiment, the D / A converter 36 and the image display device 38 are configured to be built in the system main body. However, the D / A converter 36 and the image display device 38 are integrated with the system main body. The image display device 38 may be configured as a separate device so as to be detachable from the system main body.
May be configured such that different types such as high resolution or low resolution, color or black and white can be arbitrarily replaced.

Reference numeral 26 denotes an interface with a recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk, which will be described later, or an external device. Reference numeral 28 denotes a data communication control circuit for controlling data communication with the external device or a communication line. In accordance with the protocol of a connected external device or communication line, data conversion or inverse conversion, data modulation or demodulation, and the like are performed.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a connector for exchanging data and control signals with the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk and supplying power, and 34 designates a connector for exchanging data and control signals with an external device or a communication line. By using the connector 34, data communication can be performed with an external device directly or via a communication line.

When the recording medium 100 is connected to the connector 30, the image data recorded on the mounted recording medium 100 is read out, and the connector 30, the interface 26, the data communication control circuit 28, and the connector 34 are read. When the recording medium 100 is not connected to the connector 30, the image data is shot and the image data stored in the image memory 24 is read out. 26,
The data can be transmitted to an external device via the data communication control circuit 28 and the connector 34.

The method of communication using the connectors 30 and 34 includes not only communication using electric signals but also mechanical, optical,
It is configured so that data and control signals can be transmitted and received by various methods such as acoustic.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a lens control circuit for controlling the movement of the focusing lens in the photographing optical system 10;
Is an exposure control circuit for controlling the aperture mechanism and shutter mechanism in the exposure control member 12, 44 is a distance measuring circuit for measuring the distance to the subject, 46 is a photometric circuit for measuring the brightness of the subject, 48 Is a strobe device for illuminating a subject.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a system control circuit for controlling the operation of the entire system; 52, a control data memory for storing various constant data, variable data, operation programs, and the like used for the control operation in the system control circuit 50; Numeral 54 denotes a display device for displaying the operation state of the system, which is constituted by, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like. It is provided in one or both of the places in the viewfinder where it is easily visible.

The display device 54 has a remaining battery power in a power supply section 82, a shutter speed value, an aperture value, an exposure correction value in the exposure control member 12, and a gain for increasing the imaging sensitivity of the imaging device 14. Up operation,
The state of the storable capacity in the image memory 24, the presence / absence of image data compression / expansion operations in the image compression / expansion circuit 22, the number of captured / recorded screens and the captured / recorded capacity in the recording medium 100, and the remaining screens available for photography The number and the remaining capacity that can be recorded are also displayed. The display device 54 is easily visible, for example, around the switch group 56, and the electronic display finder such as the image display device 38 is easily visible. If both are provided,
The type of content displayed by each display device and the timing of display may be different from each other.

Reference numeral 56 denotes a switch group for issuing various operation instructions to the system control circuit 50. The switch group 56 includes, for example, a main switch 60 for instructing the system to be operable and a two-stage release. A two-stage distance-measurement / photometry switch 62 for instructing a start of a distance measurement operation by the distance measurement circuit 44 and a photometry operation by the photometry circuit 46, which is closed at a first stage of the button 58, and a two-stage release switch 58; A recording medium 1 such as a memory card or a hard disk of a captured image signal corresponding to a captured subject image which is closed with eyes.
Recording start switch 6 for instructing recording start to 00
4. Single-shot shooting / recording (S) mode for shooting / recording a field image signal or a frame image signal for one screen, continuous shooting / recording for continuously shooting a field image signal or a frame image signal for a plurality of screens (C) a photographing / recording mode selection switch 66 for selecting one of the mode and the self-timer photographing / recording mode, the number of image signal recording screens, the distinction between frame recording / field recording, the aspect ratio of the captured image, Pixel configuration of captured image,
A recording condition setting switch 68 for selecting various setting conditions relating to an image signal recording operation, such as a data compression / expansion method and a data compression / expansion ratio when compression / expansion processing is performed by the data compression / expansion method. An erasing mode selection switch 70 for selecting an erasing mode; an erasing operation start instruction switch 72 for instructing the start of an erasing operation; a transmission mode selection switch 74 for selecting a data transmission mode;
There is a transmission operation start instruction switch 76 for instructing the start of data transmission operation.

Reference numeral 80 denotes a detection circuit for detecting a power supply state of a power supply unit 82 described later, and a D for converting a DC power supplied from the power supply unit 82 into a voltage suitable for each unit for supplying power.
The power supply unit 82 includes a C-DC converter, a switch for switching a circuit block to be supplied with power, and the like, and detects whether or not the power supply unit 82 is attached to the main unit, detects the type of the power supply unit 82, and includes a battery. If so, the remaining amount of the battery is detected, the DC-DC converter is controlled based on the detection result and an instruction from the system control circuit 50, and necessary power is supplied to each unit for a required period. The power supply control circuit 82 has a power supply unit composed of, for example, a rechargeable secondary battery, and 84 and 86 are connectors for connecting the main unit and the power supply unit 82.

Numeral 90 denotes an electrically erasable and recordable nonvolatile memory such as an EEP-ROM.

The system control circuit 50 controls the movement of the focusing lens in the photographing optical system 10 by the lens control circuit 40 in accordance with the measurement result of the distance measuring circuit 44, thereby controlling the photographing optical system 10 to be in focus. In accordance with the photometry result in the photometry circuit 46, the exposure control circuit 12 controls the exposure by the exposure control member 12 so that the subject optical image formed on the imaging surface of the imaging device 14 has the optimal exposure amount.

The recording area of the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk has a management data recording area 1.
02, an information data recording area 104 and a camera-related data recording area 114 are provided.
6 and the connector 108 to write data from the outside and read data to the outside.

The recording medium 100 is also provided with a recording area 110 for write protection (write-protection) information for the management data recording area 102, the information data recording area 104, and the camera-related data recording area 114. The protection information is stored in the interface 10
6 and the connector 108, the write protection data is externally written and the write protection data is externally read.

Further, the recording medium 100 includes the recording medium 10.
There is also provided a medium identification information recording area 112 in which data indicating medium identification information representing the type, characteristics, etc. of 0 is recorded. A system control circuit 50 described later is recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112. By reading the data through the interface 106 and the connector 108, the recording medium 100 connected to the connector 30 is read.
Are configured to be able to detect what kind and what kind of characteristics are provided from the information indicated by the read data.

The interface 106 has a CP
It is composed of a control circuit such as U and MPU, a nonvolatile memory such as ROM and EEP-ROM, and a memory such as RAM, and controls the operation of the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk based on a predetermined program. Things.

The operation of the electronic still video system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. .

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing main operation routines of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1 as a whole.

2 and 3, when the power supply section 82 is mounted on the system main body, the system control circuit 50 is turned on.
Initializes various flags, control variables, and the like (step S1 in the figure), sets a battery replacement flag in the nonvolatile memory 90 (step S2 in the figure), and sets the operation mode of the system to the standby mode (step S2 in the figure). Step S3 in the figure).

As described above, when the battery replacement flag is set in the nonvolatile memory 90, the system control circuit 50 replaces the battery in the power supply unit 82 when the main switch 60 described later is in the off state. You can judge it.

When the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode, the system control circuit 50 turns off the display on the display device 54 as necessary, and the power supply control circuit 80 controls each part as necessary. Power supply to the power supply to prevent unnecessary power consumption.

Then, the system control circuit 50 turns on the main switch 60 (step S in the figure).
4) If the operation mode of the system is the standby mode (step S8 in the figure), the standby mode is released (step S9 in the figure), and the system control circuit 5
0 indicates that the display on the display device 54 is to be performed as required, and the power control circuit 80 supplies the required power for a required period,
Supply to each part.

Then, the system control circuit 50 reads from the non-volatile memory 90 data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100, necessary data such as a battery replacement flag or the like, and It is stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or in the memory 52 (step S10 in the figure), and when a battery replacement flag indicating that the battery has been replaced in the power supply unit 82 is detected (step S11 in the figure). ), The value of the data indicating the number of accumulated shooting recording screens is advanced by a predetermined number (for example, 100 screens) and reset, and then the setting of the battery exchange flag in the nonvolatile memory 90 is released (FIG. Step S12).

Further, even if the main switch 60 is on in step S4, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the system operation mode is not the standby mode in step S8,
If the battery replacement flag is not detected from the data or the flag read from the nonvolatile memory 90 and it is detected that the battery in the power supply unit 82 has not been replaced, the process proceeds to step S13 described later.

On the other hand, if it is detected in step S4 that the main switch 60 is off, and if the operation mode of the system is not in the standby mode (step S5 in the drawing), the system control circuit 50 The data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens of the image signal recorded in the memory 100, necessary data such as a battery replacement flag or a flag is read out from the register or the memory 52 in the system control circuit 50, and the nonvolatile memory 90 is read out.
(Step S6 in the figure), the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode (step S7 in the figure), and the process returns to the step S4 to return to the main switch 60.
It is in a standby state until is operated.

If the main switch 60 is turned off in step S4 and if the operation mode of the system is in the standby mode in step S5, the process returns to step S4 and the main switch 60 is operated. It is in a waiting state until it is done.

Next, the system control circuit 50 connects the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk to the system main body (step S13 in the figure), and further writes the write protect information of the recording medium 100 connected to the system main body. If it is determined that write protection data indicating write protection has not been set in the recording area 110 (step S14 in the figure), the recording medium 100
, Identification information data such as the type of recording medium, data recording capacity, characteristics of the recording medium, camera-related data, recording medium-related data, and management data used at the time of photographing and recording of image data recorded on the recording medium 100 Is read from the recording medium 100, and the recording state of the recording medium 100 is searched (step S15 in the figure).

A detailed description of the search operation will be described later.

Further, the system control circuit 50 determines that the recording medium 100 is not connected (step S13 in the figure) or determines that write protect data is set (step S14 in the figure). ), A warning display indicating that the recording medium 100 is not connected or the write protection data is set is displayed on the display device 54, and the process returns to the step S4 to operate the main switch 60. Until the standby state (step S18 in the figure).

Then, the system control circuit 50 executes the identification information data of the recording medium 100, the camera-related data, the recording medium-related data, the management data recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100, and the switch group 56.
Based on various modes set according to the above and various mode settings set according to the type of the recording medium 100 connected to the system main body, the number of remaining recordable screens recorded on the recording medium 100, the date, and the photographing operation. The mode, various messages, and the like are displayed on the display device 54 (step S16 in the figure), and the recording medium 100 is a recording medium that cannot be used in the present system or the recording medium 100
If there is no free area in the information data recording area 104 where data can be recorded (step S17 in the figure), the recording medium 100 is a recording medium that cannot be used in the present system, or the information of the recording medium 100 Data recording area 10
After displaying a warning display indicating that there is no area in which data can be recorded in No. 4, the process returns to step S 4, and waits until the main switch 60 is operated (step S 18 in the figure).

Next, the system control circuit 50 detects the state of the distance measuring / photometric switch 62, and if the distance measuring / photometric switch 62 is off, returns to step S4 (step S19 in the figure). ), If it ’s on,
The distance to the subject is measured by the distance measurement circuit 44, and the focusing lens in the distance measurement circuit 44 is moved to focus the imaging optical system 10 on the object and the brightness of the object is measured by the photometry circuit 46. The aperture control and shutter mechanism of the exposure control member 12 are controlled by the exposure control circuit 42 so that the subject optical image formed on the imaging surface of the image sensor 14 has an optimal exposure amount according to the photometry result in the photometry circuit 46. The exposure for the subject is determined by the exposure control member 12 (step S in the figure).
20).

Then, the system control circuit 50 detects the state of the recording start switch 64, and
The distance measuring operation and the photometric operation in step S20 are repeated until is turned on (step S2 in the figure).
1) When it is detected that the recording start switch 64 is turned on, the photographing operation is started, and the analog image signal output from the image sensor 14 is digitized by the A / D converter 16. Are stored in the image memory 24 (step S22 in the figure).

The distance measuring operation, photometric operation, and photographing operation will be described in detail later.

During the photographing operation as described above, the system control circuit 50 measures the number of screens of the photographed image, and updates the data indicating the cumulative number of photographed recording screens by integrating the measured values. The data is temporarily stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or in the memory 52 (step S23 in the figure), and further includes data indicating an identification number unique to the system main body, such as a manufacturing number of the system main body, and data indicating the number of accumulated shooting recording screens. Are stored in the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20, including the data indicating the identification number unique to the captured recorded image obtained from (step S2 in the figure)
4).

The photographing-related data includes, in addition to the identification number unique to the photographed and recorded image, the type number and serial number of the system main body, the size and type of the image pickup device 14 installed in the system main body, and the total number of pixels. Number, presence / absence of color filters, type, configuration and characteristics of color filters or their identification numbers, characteristics of infrared blocking filters or their identification numbers, characteristics of optical low-pass filters or their identification numbers, type of photographing lens used for photography Number and serial number, focal length of the shooting lens at shooting, distance measurement distance, aperture value, shutter speed value, continuous shooting speed value, shooting date, shooting time, shooting temperature, white balance type, shooting color There are data indicating the temperature, the use of the strobe device, the type number and the serial number of the strobe device, and the like.

Then, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the value of the data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens out of the shooting-related data stored in the image memory 24 is stored in the non-volatile memory 90. When the value of the data indicating the number of recording screens is increased by a predetermined number (for example, 100) (step S25 in the figure), the data indicating the number of recording screens is replaced with a battery replacement flag or the like. Together with other data and flags from the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52,
By storing it in 0, the contents of data and flags stored in the nonvolatile memory 90 are updated (step S26 in the figure).

In the above-described operation, only the data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens among the data and flags stored or set in the register or the memory 25 in the system control circuit 50 is read out.
By storing the data in 0, the contents of the data and flags stored in the nonvolatile memory 90 may be updated.

In step S 25, the system control circuit 50 stores in the nonvolatile memory 90 the value of the data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens among the shooting related data stored in the image memory 24. If it does not increase by a predetermined number (for example, 100) from the value of the data indicating the number of accumulated shooting recording screens, the process proceeds to step S27 described later.

In step S27, when it is detected that the recording start switch 64 is kept on and the instruction to continue the continuous shooting operation is detected, the system control circuit 50 executes the image control. If there is a free area in the memory 24 where image data can be stored (step S28 in the figure), the process returns to the step S19, and the above-described processing operation is repeated. 64 is turned off and it is detected that an instruction to interrupt the continuous shooting operation is detected, or in step S28, there is no free space in the image memory 24 where image data can be stored, and the shooting operation is stopped. If it cannot be performed, the system control circuit 50 stores the image data and the photographing related data in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100. When recording, the FAT (file allocation) indicating the use state of each cluster, which is a use unit of the information data recording area 104, to be recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 together with the image data and the photographing-related data. (Table) While storing management data such as a table in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24, the image data and the photographing-related data stored in the image memory 24 are read out, and the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the management data such as the FAT is read from the image memory 24, and the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, Via connector 108, interface 106 Te is recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100.

The above processing operation is performed for each screen in a plurality of captured images, and is repeated a number of times corresponding to the number of screens of the captured image. When a series of processing operations is completed, the process proceeds to step S4. It returns to the standby state until the main switch 60 is operated (step S2 in the figure).
9).

A detailed description of the recording operation will be described later.

In the present embodiment, the data stored in the non-volatile memory 90 or the contents of the information indicated by the flag include data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100, Although necessary data or flags such as an exchange flag have been described, camera-related data, recording medium-related data,
In the case where the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the number of times of activation of the hard disk device and the like are also stored in the nonvolatile memory 90.
May be configured to be stored in the memory.

In the case where data indicating the data recording structure in the recording medium 100 is stored in the nonvolatile memory 90 as the data stored in the nonvolatile memory 90 or the content of the information indicated by the flag, Each time the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode, data indicating the recording structure of the data in the recording medium 100 is read from the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 and stored in the nonvolatile memory 90. Every time the setting of the standby mode is released, data indicating the recording structure of the data in the recording medium 100 is read from the nonvolatile memory 90, and is read and stored in the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. With such a configuration, the recording medium 100
In order to obtain the data indicating the recording structure of the data, the recording medium 100 is not activated every time.
It is possible to record or reproduce file data with respect to.

When the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the data indicating the recording structure of the data on the recording medium 100 is the number of sectors constituting one track on the hard disk in the hard disk device. The number of heads of the hard disk drive, the number of sectors constituting one cluster, the total number of clusters, the position information of the first sector of the first FAT, the position information of the first sector of the second FAT,
Position information of the first sector of the directory entry, position information of the first sector of the information data recording area 104, last allocation cluster indicating to which cluster the data has been recorded, and data from which cluster There are a next-free cluster indicating whether the data can be recorded, a used cluster number indicating the number of clusters in which data is recorded, and an unused cluster number indicating how many clusters in which data can be recorded.

The above-mentioned position information of each head sector is composed of data such as a cylinder number, a head number, and a sector number of the hard disk.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the search operation routine in step S15 in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the system control circuit 50
If the search operation of the recording state in the recording medium 100 is not completed (step S31 in the figure), the system control circuit 50 sets the medium identification information recording area 1 of the recording medium 100 to
12, the type and characteristics of the recording medium 100 recorded on the recording medium 100;
Data indicating a data recordable capacity, an identification number, a trademark that can be used as an identification, and the like are transmitted to the interface 10.
6, connector 108, connector 30, interface 2
6 (step S32 in the figure), and when it is determined that the recording medium 100 connected to the system body is a recording medium usable in the present system (step S33 in the figure), In addition to determining whether the recording medium 100 is a memory card or a hard disk, the type of the memory card or the hard disk is determined, and the type of the recording medium 100 is optimized so that transmission and reception of data between the system control circuit 50 and the recording medium 100 are optimized. According to the shooting operation,
The respective operation modes of the recording operation, the reproducing operation, and the transmission operation are set (step S36 in the figure).

By the above-described operation processing, the transmission / reception speed of data commands and the like between the recording medium 100 connected to the system body and the system control circuit 50 can be set optimally. It becomes possible to optimally set the speed, the number of screens capable of continuous shooting and recording, and the like.

The above-described operation of identifying the recording medium 100 is performed as follows.
The system control circuit 50 does not directly read and discriminate the data recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112 of the recording medium 100, but reads the data by a control circuit such as a CPU or MPU included in the interface 106 in the recording medium 100. Based on the determination result, a CPU, an MPU or the like included in the interface 106 may transmit the determination signal to the system control circuit 50 as a determination signal. 1
When the system control circuit 50 reads the data recorded in the memory 12, the data read from the medium identification information recording area 112 is transferred to a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20. After writing, the system control circuit 50 may read the data again via the memory control circuit 20.

Among the data recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112, information relating to the recordable capacity of the data of the recording medium 100 includes a camera management data recording area 114, a management data recording area 102, and an information data recording area. The system control circuit 5 indicates the total amount of data recordable capacity including the area 104 and the undefined recording area, the respective data recordable capacities, and the recording position of each data recording area.
0 indicates a camera management data recording area 114, a management data recording area 102, an information data recording area 104, and a non-recording medium 100, even if there are a plurality of types of recording media 100 connected to the system body that have different data recordable capacities. It is possible to recognize the total recordable recording capacity of the data including the defined recording area, the respective capacities, and the recording position of each data.

Further, even when the recording medium 100 connected to the system body is composed of a plurality of recording media having different types, characteristics, and data recordable capacities, the system control circuit 50 controls the medium of the recording medium 100. From the data recorded in the identification information recording area 112, it is possible to recognize information on the type, characteristics, and data recordable capacity of each recording medium, and further, the information recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112 of the recording medium 100. From the stored data, it is also possible to recognize information on the recording position of the camera-related data and the recording medium-related data recorded in the camera-related data recording area 114 of each recording medium.

In step S33, the system control circuit 50 determines from the data recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112 that, for example, the type of recording medium 100 connected to the system main body is not compatible with the present system. , Characteristics, data recordable capacity, or if it is determined to have an identification number not applicable to this system, a trademark etc. that can be used as an identification, It is determined that the recording medium 100 connected to the system main body is a recording medium that cannot be used in the present system, and a recording medium mismatch flag is set in a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S34 in the figure). , The recording medium 10 on the display device 54
0 causes the system to display a warning indicating that it is an unusable recording medium.
0 is stopped (step S3 in the figure).
5).

Then, the system control circuit 50 searches the camera-related data and the recording medium-related data recorded in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100 via the interface 106, the connector 108, the connector 30, and the interface 26. (Step S3 in the figure)
7) If camera-related data or recording medium-related data exists in the camera-related data recording area 114 (step S38 in the figure), the camera-related data or recording medium-related data is stored in the camera-related data recording area 114. The data is read, and a photographing mode and a recording mode are set and executed according to the read data and the program (step S39 in the figure).

The camera-related data includes system identification data such as the type of a camera unit in the system, a serial number, a white balance adjustment value in the camera unit, and the like.
Auto focus adjustment value in camera section, auto exposure adjustment value in camera section, image sensor 1 in camera section
4 shows the sensitivity unevenness and its correction value, the temperature characteristics of various parts in the camera section and their correction values, recording medium identification data indicating a recording medium usable in the present system, a damaged portion of the recording medium, and other information about the camera section. Data, a program for operating the system control circuit 50, and the like are set. The recording medium-related data includes a recording medium identification number unique to the recording medium, such as a serial number of the recording medium 100, and data of the recording medium 100. In the case where the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the number of activations of the hard disk device, and in the case where the recording medium 100 is a memory card, each block in the data recording area of the memory card Data indicating the number of times of data erasure is set, and each part of the system is set according to these data and programs. The execution of the numerical values and operating mode settings and programs necessary for the operation or photographing and recording operations.

In the case where the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the data indicating the recording structure of the data on the recording medium 100 in the recording medium-related data is one track on the hard disk in the hard disk device. , The number of heads of the hard disk drive, the number of sectors forming one cluster, the total number of clusters, the position information of the first sector of the first FAT, the position information of the first sector of the second FAT, the first sector of the directory entry Position information, the position information of the first sector of the information data recording area 104, the last allocation cluster indicating in which cluster the data has been recorded, and from which cluster the data can be recorded. Next free cluster shown, cluster where data is recorded The number of used clusters indicative of, a number of unused clusters for indicating whether the recordable cluster data remains how much.

The above-mentioned position information of each head sector is constituted by data such as the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the hard disk.

If no camera-related data or recording medium-related data exists in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100 in step S38, the system control circuit 50
A photographing mode and a recording mode are set and executed according to data indicating various standard values and a standard program stored in advance in the ROM in the ROM 0 or the ROM in the memory 52 (step S40 in the figure).

As described above, data and programs necessary for operating the system are recorded in advance on the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk, and the data and programs are stored in the system control circuit 50 when the system is started. The system can be configured so that the necessary values and operation modes are set when the system is operating, and are executed.

The operation of reading the camera-related data recorded in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100 and the recording medium-related data into the system control circuit 50 is performed by the camera-related data recording area of the recording medium 100. The data recorded in the memory 114 is transferred to the image memory 24 via the interface 106, the connector 108, the connector 30, the interface 26, and the memory control circuit 20.
After the data is written in a part of the data recording area, the data may be read into the system control circuit 50 via the memory control circuit 20 again.

The system control circuit 50 transmits the management data recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 to the interface 106, the connector 108,
Connector 30, interface 26, memory control circuit 2
0, the data is written into a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20, then read into the system control circuit 20 again via the memory control circuit 20, and the recording state of the file on the recording medium 100 is searched (step in FIG. S41).

A detailed description of the file search operation will be described later.

Then, based on the file search operation performed in step S41, the system control circuit 50
It is detected whether or not there is an error in the file management information such as the directory entry and the FAT (step S4 in the figure).
2) If there is no abnormality, return to the original operation routine. If there is an abnormality, correct the file management information, display an abnormality occurrence warning, set the use prohibition of the problem area in the information data recording area 104, etc. (Step S4 in the figure)
3).

As an abnormality of the file management information, for example, a file has a structure in which clusters, which are recording units of normal data, are chained, but the directory entry indicating the head of the chain of the cluster is missing without being updated. In such a case, the link list, which is information indicating the chain of clusters recorded in the FAT, cannot be searched, or the file size indicated in the directory entry and the file size recorded in the FAT cannot be retrieved. The file size may be different from the file size obtained by searching the linked list which is the information indicating the chain of clusters.

In the case described above, one or both of the directory entry and the link list recorded in the FAT contain an error, so that the next data recording operation is performed. Or data may be destroyed when performing an erase operation.

Further, when all or part of a link list, which is information indicating a chain of clusters recorded in the FAT, is indicated by another directory entry, or when the information indicated by the link list is a cluster. However, when the data is not recorded without indicating the end of the sequence and the information indicates that the data is not recorded, the data may be destroyed at the time of performing the next data recording or erasing operation.

Therefore, when the system control circuit 50 detects the above-described abnormality of the file management information, the system control circuit 50 displays a warning of the abnormality of the file management information, and displays a directory entry, a link list or the like recorded in the FAT. Of the file management information, setting of prohibition of the use of the problem location in the information data recording area 104, and the like.

When the above-described file search operation is completed, the search operation routine ends, and the process returns to the original operation routine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the distance measuring / photometric operation routine in step S20 in FIG.

In FIG. 5, the system control circuit 50
When the distance measurement / photometry switch 62 is in the ON state, first, the distance to the subject is measured by the distance measurement circuit 44, and the distance measurement data according to the distance measurement result is transmitted to the system control circuit 5.
0 is stored in a register or memory 52 (step S51 in the figure), and the brightness of the subject is measured by the photometric circuit 46, and photometric data corresponding to the photometric result is stored in the register or memory 52 in the system control circuit 50. (Step S52 in the figure).

Further, the system control circuit 50 controls the flash device 48 in accordance with the photometric result of the photometric circuit 46.
It is determined whether or not it is necessary to emit light (step S53 in the figure). If it is necessary to make the flash device 48 emit light, a flash flag is set and the flash device 4 is set.
8 is started (step S5 in the figure).
4).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the photographing operation routine in step S22 in FIG.

In FIG. 6, the system control circuit 50
When the distance measurement / photometry switch 62 is in the ON state, the distance measurement data stored in the register or the memory 52 in the system control circuit 50 is read, and the lens control circuit 40 is read in accordance with the read distance measurement data. By controlling the movement of the focusing lens of the photographing optical system 10, the photographing optical system 10 is controlled to be in a focused state (step S61 in the figure), and stored in the register or the memory 52 in the system control circuit 50. Read out the photometric data that is present, and according to the read out photometric data, the image sensor 1
4, the exposure amount for the subject formed on the imaging surface is determined, and during the period corresponding to the determined exposure amount, the exposure control member 1 is determined.
By driving the shutter mechanism of the exposure control member 12 by the exposure control circuit 42 so as to open the shutter mechanism 2 in the open state, the subject imaging optical image is exposed on the imaging surface of the image sensor 14 (step in the figure). S62, S63).

Further, the system control circuit 50 detects whether or not a strobe flag set according to the photometry result in the photometry circuit 46 has been set (step S64 in the figure), and the strobe flag is set. If so, the flash device 48 is caused to emit light (step S6 in the figure).
5).

Then, the system control circuit 50 terminates the exposure time of the subject optical image on the image pickup surface of the image pickup device 14 by the shutter mechanism of the exposure control member 12 which is set in accordance with the determined exposure amount (FIG. Step S6 during
6) By driving the shutter mechanism of the exposure control member 12 by the exposure control circuit 42 so that the shutter mechanism of the exposure control member 12 is closed, the optical image of the subject image on the imaging surface of the image sensor 14 is obtained. After the exposure operation is completed (step S67 in the figure), the charge signal stored in the image sensor 14 is output and digitized by the A / D converter 16, and then output from the A / D converter 16. Data stored in the image memory 2 via the memory control circuit 20.
4 and temporarily stores data corresponding to the captured image of one screen in the image memory 24 (step S68 in the figure).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the recording operation routine in step S29 in FIG.

In FIG. 7, the system control circuit 50
First, as additional information related to image data to be recorded on the recording medium 100, for example, data corresponding to information or numbers indicating characters, sounds, pictures, etc., which can be arbitrarily set by an operator, is stored in a memory control circuit. Image memory 24 through 20
(Step S71 in the figure).

The data corresponding to the additional information is supplied to the image memory 24 from an additional information data generator which generates additional information data in accordance with the operation of a non-illustrated information data input switch (not shown) in the switch group 56. Alternatively, a connector 34, a data communication control circuit 2 and a voice input device (not shown) provided as an external device of the system.
8. It is supplied to the image memory 24 via the interface 26.

The system control circuit 50 generates a file name, a file attribute, a file creation date, a file creation time, and the like necessary for creating an image file formed by recording image data on the recording medium 100. Is generated and stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20 (step S72 in the figure).

A part or all of the data indicating the file name is formed from an identification number unique to the system, such as the serial number of the system main body, and the number of image capturing and recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100. Data representing an identification number or an identification symbol unique to the captured recording image, or an identification number unique to the recording medium 100, such as a manufacturing number of the recording medium 100, and a cumulative imaging recording screen of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100. It corresponds to the data indicating the identification number or the identification symbol unique to the captured recording image, and by adding data indicating the file name to each image file when creating the image file, the image file having the same file name Can be prevented from occurring.

In the photographing-related data, the serial number of the system, such as the serial number of the system body, and the cumulative number of image-recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100, or the serial number of the recording medium 100 Etc., recording medium 1
00, including data corresponding to the identification number unique to the captured image formed from the cumulative number of image capture recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100, and a part of the data indicating the file name or When the image file is created, all of the data related to the identification number or the identification symbol indicating that the data corresponding to the identification signal unique to the captured image is included in the imaging-related data. If the data indicating the file name is added, the data indicating the file name can be used as an index for retrieving photographing-related data, so that it is possible to prevent an image file having the same file name from being generated. .

The system control circuit 50 stores the image data stored in the image memory 24 in the storage medium 100.
When the information is recorded in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 together with the image data,
The management data such as FAT indicating the use state of each cluster which is the unit of use of the information data recording area 104 to be recorded in the image memory 24 is recorded in the image memory 24 while being stored in a part of the recording area. Image data, image-related data including data corresponding to the identification number unique to the recorded image, and data corresponding to the additional information, from the image memory 24, and read out the memory control circuit 20, interface 26 Recording medium 1 via the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106.
00, which is stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24, such as FAT indicating the use state of each cluster, which is the unit of use of the information data recording area 104. The management data is stored in the recording medium 1 via the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106.
00, and stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24.
Data necessary for creating an image file, such as a file name, a file attribute, a file creation date, a file creation time, and the like, are stored in the memory control circuit 20 and the interface 2.
6, connector 30, connector 108, interface 1
06, the management data recording area 1 of the recording medium 100
02 (step S73 in the figure).

A detailed description of the image file recording operation will be described later.

Incidentally, at the time of the image file recording operation in step S73, the photographing-related data recorded together with the image data in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 includes, in addition to the identification number unique to the photographed recorded image, Type number and serial number of the system main body, size and type and total number of pixels of the image sensor 14 installed in the system main body, presence or absence of a color filter, type, configuration and characteristics of the color filter or their identification numbers, infrared cutoff filter Characteristics or their identification numbers, optical low-pass filter characteristics or their identification numbers, the type number and serial number of the lens used for shooting, the focal length of the shooting lens at shooting, the distance measurement distance, the aperture value, the shutter speed value, Continuous shooting speed value, shooting date, shooting time, shooting temperature,
There are data indicating the type of white balance, the color temperature at the time of shooting, the use of a strobe device, the type number and the serial number of the strobe device, and the like.

When the image data to be recorded on the recording medium 100 remains in the image memory 24, the system control circuit 50 returns to the step S71 to execute the above-described series of image file recording processing. The operation is repeated (step S74 in the figure), and when there is no more image data to be recorded on the recording medium 100 in the image memory 24,
The system control circuit 50 records the camera-related data and the storage medium-related data in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100 via the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106 (Step S75 in the figure). , And return to the original operation routine.

When recording the camera-related data and the recording medium-related data on the recording medium 100, the camera-related data and the recording medium-related data generated by the system control circuit 50 are transferred to the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20. After being stored in a part of the data recording area, the recording medium 10 is transmitted via the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106.
It may be configured to record in the camera-related data recording area 114 of 0.

The camera-related data includes system identification data such as the type and serial number of the camera unit in the system, a white balance adjustment value in the camera unit, an autofocus adjustment value in the camera unit, and an automatic exposure adjustment in the camera unit. Value, imaging device 14 in camera section
Sensitivity unevenness and its correction value, temperature characteristics of various parts in the camera unit and its correction value, recording medium identification data indicating a recording medium that can be used in this system, damaged part of the recording medium, and other data indicating information about the camera unit And a program for operating the system control circuit 50, and the recording medium-related data include a recording medium identification number unique to the recording medium such as a serial number of the recording medium 100, and data of the recording medium 100. The recording structure, the number of activations of the hard disk device when the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, and the data of each block in the data recording area of the memory card when the recording medium 100 is a memory card Data indicating the number of erasures is set.

When the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the data indicating the recording structure of the data on the recording medium 100 in the recording medium-related data is one track on the hard disk in the hard disk device. , The number of heads of the hard disk drive, the number of sectors forming one cluster, the total number of clusters, the position information of the first sector of the first FAT, the position information of the first sector of the second FAT, the first sector of the directory entry Position information, the position information of the first sector of the information data recording area 104, the last allocation cluster indicating in which cluster the data has been recorded, and from which cluster the data can be recorded. Next free cluster shown, cluster where data is recorded The number of used clusters indicative of, a number of unused clusters for indicating whether the recordable cluster data remains how much.

The position information of each head sector described above is composed of data such as the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the hard disk.

The system control circuit 50 stores, among the data and programs set in the camera-related data and the recording-medium-related data as described above, the data or the program recorded on the recording medium 100 or the contents of the program. The data or program of the portion that needs to be rewritten is recorded in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100.

For example, when the camera-related data is not recorded in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100 mounted on the system main body, the camera-related data generated by the system control circuit 50 of the system main body is used. Recording may be performed, and each time image data is recorded, reproduced, or deleted, the recording medium 10 described above may be used.
0, the number of activations of the hard disk device when the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, and for each block in the data recording area of the memory card when the recording medium 100 is a memory card. The data indicating the number of times of data erasure may be updated as necessary.

As described above, if the data and programs necessary for the operation of each part of the system and the photographing / recording operation are recorded in advance on the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk, and updated as necessary, the system At the time of startup, the system control circuit 50 can read and execute data and programs recorded on the recording medium 100.

When the above-described series of processing operations is completed, the image file recording operation ends.

Hereinafter, the operation of the electronic still video system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the follow charts shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. I do.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1 as a whole.

As described above, the electronic still video system according to the second embodiment of the present invention is different from the first embodiment in that the search operation routine of step S15 of FIG. 2 shown in FIG. The search operation routine shown in FIG. 3 is used to execute step S29 of FIG. 3 in the first embodiment shown in FIG.
9 is used instead of the recording operation routine shown in FIG. 9. Since other processing operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, detailed description is omitted. The search operation routine shown in FIG. 8 and the recording operation routine shown in FIG. 9 will be described in detail.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining in detail another search operation routine in step S15 of FIG.

In FIG. 8, the system control circuit 50
When the search operation of the recording state in the recording medium 100 is not completed (step S81 in the figure), the system control circuit 50 sets the medium identification information recording area 1 of the recording medium 100 to
12, the type and characteristics of the recording medium 100 recorded on the recording medium 100;
Data indicating a data recordable capacity, an identification number, a trademark that can be used as an identification, and the like are transmitted to the interface 10.
6, connector 108, connector 30, interface 2
6 (step S82 in the figure), and when it is determined that the recording medium 100 connected to the system body is a recording medium usable in the present system (step S83 in the figure), It is determined whether the recording medium 100 is a memory card or a hard disk, and the type of the memory card or the hard disk is determined. According to the shooting operation,
The respective operation modes of the recording operation, the reproducing operation, and the electric transmission operation are set (step S86 in the figure).

By the above-described operation processing, the transmission / reception speed of data commands and the like between the recording medium 100 connected to the system body and the system control circuit 50 can be set optimally, and in particular, continuous shooting in the continuous shooting recording mode. It becomes possible to optimally set the speed, the number of screens capable of continuous shooting and recording, and the like.

Note that the above-described operation of identifying the recording medium 100 is performed as follows.
The system control circuit 50 does not directly read and discriminate the data recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112 of the recording medium 100, but reads the data by a control circuit such as a CPU or MPU included in the interface 106 in the recording medium 100. Based on the determination result, a CPU, an MPU or the like included in the interface 106 may transmit the determination signal to the system control circuit 50 as a determination signal. 1
When the system control circuit 50 reads the data recorded in the memory 12, the data read from the medium identification information recording area 112 is transferred to a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20. After writing, the system control circuit 50 may read the data again via the memory control circuit 20.

Among the data recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112, information relating to the recordable capacity of data on the recording medium 100 includes a camera management data recording area 114, a management data recording area 102, an information data recording area. The system control circuit 5 indicates the total amount of data recordable capacity including the area 104 and the undefined recording area, the respective data recordable capacities, and the recording position of each data recording area.
0 indicates a camera management data recording area 114, a management data recording area 102, an information data recording area 104, and a non-recording medium 100, even if there are a plurality of types of recording media 100 connected to the system body that have different data recordable capacities. It is possible to recognize the total recordable recording capacity of the data including the defined recording area, the respective capacities, and the recording position of each data.

Further, even when the recording medium 100 connected to the system body is composed of a plurality of recording media having different types, characteristics, and data recordable capacities, the system control circuit 50 controls the medium of the recording medium 100. From the data recorded in the identification information recording area 112, it is possible to recognize information on the type, characteristics, and data recordable capacity of each recording medium, and further, the information recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112 of the recording medium 100. From the stored data, information on the recording position of the camera-related data and the recording medium-related data recorded in the camera-related data recording area 114 of each recording medium is also recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112 of the recording medium 100. It can be recognized from the data.

In step S83, the system control circuit 50 determines from the data recorded in the medium identification information recording area 112 that, for example, the recording medium 100 connected to the system body corresponds to the present system. If it is determined that the product has no type, characteristics, and data recordable capacity, or that it has an identification number that is not applicable to this system, or a trademark that can be used as an identification, etc. Determines that the recording medium 100 attached to the system main body is a recording medium that cannot be used in the present system, and sets a recording medium mismatch flag in a register in the system control circuit 50 or in the memory 52 (see FIG. Step S84), the display device 54 displays a warning indicating that the recording medium 100 is a recording medium that cannot be used in the present system. After performed, stopping supply of electric power to the recording medium 100 from the power supply unit 82 (step S85 in FIG.).

Then, the system control circuit 50 transmits the management data recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 to the interface 106, the connector 108,
Connector 30, interface 26, memory control circuit 2
0, the data is written into a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20, then read into the system control circuit 20 again via the memory control circuit 20, and the recording state of the file on the recording medium 100 is searched (step in FIG. S87).

A detailed description of the file search operation will be described later.

Then, based on the file search operation performed in step S87, the system control circuit 50 detects whether there is an abnormality in the file management information such as the directory entry and the FAT (step S8 in the figure).
8) If there is no abnormality, the process proceeds to step S90 described later. If there is an abnormality, the file management information is corrected,
An abnormality occurrence warning display, setting of prohibition of use of a problem location in the information data recording area 104, and the like are performed (step S in FIG.
89).

As an abnormality of the file management information, for example, a file has a structure in which clusters, which are recording units of normal data, are chained, but a directory entry indicating the head of the cluster chain is missing without being updated. In such a case, the link list, which is information on the chain of clusters recorded in the FAT, cannot be searched, or the file size indicated in the directory entry and the file size recorded in the FAT cannot be retrieved. The file size obtained by searching the linked list, which is information indicating the chain of clusters, differs from that obtained.

In the case described above, one or both of the directory entry and the link list recorded in the FAT have an error. Data may be destroyed when performing the operation.

When the whole or a part of the link list, which is information indicating the chain of clusters recorded in the FAT, is indicated by another directory entry, or when the information indicated by the link list is Even in the case of ending with information indicating that data is not recorded without indicating the end of the cluster chain, there is a possibility that the data may be destroyed at the time of the next data recording or erasing operation.

Therefore, when the system control circuit 50 detects the above-described abnormality of the file management information, the system control circuit 50 displays a warning of the abnormality of the file management information, and also displays a directory entry, a link list recorded in the FAT, and the like. Of the file management information, setting of prohibition of the use of the problem location in the information data recording area 104, and the like.

Next, the system control circuit 50 transmits the camera-related data and the recording medium-related data recorded in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 to the interface 106, the connector 108, the connector 30, the interface 26, and the memory control circuit. 20 (step S90 in the figure), and if camera-related data or recording medium-related data exists in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 (step S91 in the figure), The camera-related data and the recording medium-related data are read from the information data recording area 104, and a shooting mode and a recording mode are set and executed according to the read data and the program (step S92 in the figure).

The camera-related data includes system identification data such as the type of the camera unit in the system and the serial number, a white balance adjustment value in the camera unit, and the like.
Auto focus adjustment value in camera section, auto exposure adjustment value in camera section, image sensor 1 in camera section
4 shows the sensitivity unevenness and its correction value, the temperature characteristics of various parts in the camera section and their correction values, recording medium identification data indicating a recording medium usable in the present system, a damaged portion of the recording medium, and other information about the camera section. Data, a program for operating the system control circuit 50, and the like are set. The recording medium-related data includes a recording medium identification number unique to the recording medium, such as a serial number of the recording medium 100, and data of the recording medium 100. In the case where the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the number of activations of the hard disk device, and in the case where the recording medium 100 is a memory card, each block in the data recording area of the memory card Data indicating the number of times of data erasure is set, and each part of the system is set according to these data and programs. The execution of the numerical values and operating mode settings and programs necessary for the operation or photographing and recording operations.

When the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the data indicating the recording structure of the data on the recording medium 100 in the recording medium-related data is one track on the hard disk in the hard disk device. , The number of sectors that make up one track on the hard disk in the hard disk drive, the number of heads of the hard disk drive, the number of sectors that make up one cluster, the total number of clusters, and the position of the first sector of the first FAT Information, position information of the first sector of the second FAT, position information of the first sector of the directory entry,
The position information of the first sector of the information data area, and the last
Allocation clusters, next free clusters indicating from which clusters data can be recorded, number of used clusters indicating the number of clusters where data is recorded, and how many remaining clusters can record data And the number of unused clusters.

The position information of each head sector described above is composed of data such as the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the hard disk.

If no camera-related data or recording medium-related data exists in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 in step S91, the system control circuit 50 Alternatively, a shooting mode and a recording mode are set and executed according to data indicating various standard values and a standard program stored in the ROM in the memory 52 in advance (step S93 in the figure).

As described above, data and programs necessary for operating the system are recorded in the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk in advance, and the data and programs are read into the system control circuit 50 when the system is started. It is also possible to set and execute necessary values and operation modes when the system operates.

When the setting and execution of the photographing mode and the recording mode as described above are completed, the search operation routine is terminated.
Return to the original operation routine.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining in detail another recording operation routine in step S29 in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 9, the system control circuit 50
First, as additional information related to image data to be recorded on the recording medium 100, for example, data corresponding to information or numbers indicating characters, sounds, pictures, etc., which can be arbitrarily set by an operator, is stored in a memory control circuit. Image memory 24 through 20
(Step S101 in the figure).

The data corresponding to the additional information is supplied to the image memory 24 from an additional information data generator that generates additional information data in accordance with the operation of an unillustrated information data input switch (not shown) in the switch group 56, Alternatively, a connector 34, a data communication control circuit 2 and a voice input device (not shown) provided as an external device of the system.
8. It is supplied to the image memory 24 via the interface 26.

Then, the system control circuit 50 generates a file name, a file attribute, a file creation date, a file creation time, and the like necessary for creating an image file formed by recording image data on the recording medium 100. Is generated and stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20 (step S102 in the figure).

A part or all of the data indicating the file name is formed from an identification number unique to the system, such as the serial number of the system body, and the number of screens of the image signal recorded on the recording medium 100. Data representing an identification number or an identification symbol unique to the captured recording image, or an identification number unique to the recording medium 100, such as a manufacturing number of the recording medium 100, and a cumulative imaging recording screen of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100. When the image file is created, data indicating the file name is added to each image file so that the image file having the same file name can be created. Can be prevented from occurring.

In the photographing-related data, the identification number unique to the system, such as the serial number of the system body, and the cumulative number of image-recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100, or the serial number of the recording medium 100 Etc., recording medium 1
00, and includes data corresponding to the identification signal unique to the captured image formed from the accumulated number of captured image recording screens of the image signal recorded on the recording medium 100, and a part of the data indicating the file name or All of the data related to the identification signal or the identification symbol indicating that data corresponding to the identification signal unique to the captured recording image is included in the imaging related data, and when creating an image file, If the data indicating the file name is added, the data indicating the file name can be used as an index for retrieving photographing-related data, so that it is possible to prevent an image file having the same file name from being generated. .

Then, the system control circuit 50 stores the image data stored in the image memory 24 in the storage medium 100.
When the information is recorded in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 together with the image data,
The management data such as FAT indicating the use state of each cluster which is the unit of use of the information data recording area 104 to be recorded in the image memory 24 is recorded in the image memory 24 while being stored in a part of the recording area. Image data, image-related data including data corresponding to the identification number unique to the recorded image, and data corresponding to the additional information, from the image memory 24, and read out the memory control circuit 20, interface 26 Recording medium 1 via the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106.
00, which is stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24, such as FAT indicating the use state of each cluster, which is the unit of use of the information data recording area 104. The management data is stored in the recording medium 1 via the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106.
00, and stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24.
Data necessary for creating an image file, such as a file name, a file attribute, a file creation date, a file creation time, and the like, are stored in the memory control circuit 20 and the interface 2.
6, connector 30, connector 108, interface 1
06, the management data recording area 1 of the recording medium 100
02 (step S103 in the figure).

A detailed description of the image file recording operation will be described later.

Incidentally, at the time of the image file recording operation in step S103, the photographing-related data recorded together with the image data in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 includes, in addition to the identification number unique to the photographed recorded image, Type number and serial number of the system main body, size and type and total number of pixels of the image sensor 14 installed in the system main body, presence or absence of a color filter, type, configuration and characteristics of the color filter or their identification numbers, infrared cutoff filter Characteristics or their identification numbers, optical low-pass filter characteristics or their identification numbers, the type number and serial number of the lens used for shooting, the focal length of the shooting lens at shooting, the distance measurement distance, the aperture value, the shutter speed value, Continuous shooting speed value, shooting date, shooting time, shooting temperature,
There are data indicating the type of white balance, the color temperature at the time of shooting, the use of a strobe device, the type number and the serial number of the strobe device, and the like.

When the image data to be recorded on the recording medium 100 remains in the image memory 24, the system control circuit 50 returns to the step S101.
The series of image file recording processing operations as described above is repeated (step S104 in the figure). When there is no more image data to be recorded on the recording medium 100 in the image memory 24, the system control circuit 50 , Storage medium related data, interface 26, connector 3
0, the connector 108, and the interface 106 to record in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100 (step S105 in the figure).

The system control circuit 50 indicates a file name, a file attribute, a file creation date, a file creation time, and the like necessary for recording the camera-related data and the storage medium-related data on the recording medium 100 as a file. Data is generated and stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20 (step S106 in the figure).

Then, the system control circuit 50 stores the image data stored in the image memory 24 in the storage medium 100.
When the information is recorded in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 together with the image data,
The management data such as FAT indicating the use state of each cluster which is the unit of use of the information data recording area 104 to be recorded in the image memory 24 is recorded in the image memory 24 while being stored in a part of the recording area. The read image data, the camera-related data, and the storage medium-related data are read from the image memory 24, and are transmitted to the information data recording area of the recording medium 100 via the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106. F, which indicates the use state of each cluster which is a use unit of the information data recording area 104 stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24.
Management data such as an AT is recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 via the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106. The camera-related data and the storage medium-related data stored in the recording medium 1 as files.
00, data indicating a file name, a file attribute, a file creation date, a file creation time, and the like necessary for recording on the recording medium via the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106. 100 is recorded in the management data recording area 102 (step S107 in the figure).

The file recording operation will be described in detail later.

The camera-related data includes system identification data such as the type and serial number of a camera unit in the system, a white balance adjustment value in the camera unit, an autofocus adjustment value in the camera unit, and an automatic exposure adjustment in the camera unit. Value, imaging device 14 in camera section
Sensitivity unevenness and its correction value, temperature characteristics of various parts in the camera unit and its correction value, recording medium identification data indicating a recording medium that can be used in this system, damaged part of the recording medium, and other data indicating information about the camera unit And a program for operating the system control circuit 50, and the recording medium-related data include a recording medium identification number unique to the recording medium such as a serial number of the recording medium 100, and data of the recording medium 100. The recording structure, the number of activations of the hard disk device when the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, and the data of each block in the data recording area of the memory card when the recording medium 100 is a memory card Data indicating the number of times of erasing is set.

[0154] If the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the data indicating the recording structure of the data on the recording medium 100 in the recording medium related data includes:
In the hard disk device, the number of sectors forming one track on the hard disk, the number of heads of the hard disk device, the number of sectors forming one cluster, the total number of clusters, the position information of the first sector of the first FAT, the second FA
Position information of the first sector of T, position information of the first sector of the directory entry, position information of the first sector of the information data recording area 104, a last allocation cluster indicating in which position the data is recorded; Next-free cluster indicating the cluster from which data is recorded, the number of used clusters indicating the number of clusters where data is recorded, the number of unused clusters indicating how many clusters can record data, etc. There is.

The above-mentioned position information of each head sector is composed of data such as the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the hard disk.

The system control circuit 50 stores, among the data and programs set in the camera-related data and the recording-medium-related data as described above, the data or the program recorded on the recording medium 100 or the contents of the program. The data or program of the portion that needs to be rewritten is written in the image memory 24.

For example, if no camera-related data is recorded in the camera-related data recording area 114 of the recording medium 100 mounted on the system main body, the camera-related data generated by the system control circuit 50 of the system main body is used. Recording may be performed, and each time image data is recorded, reproduced, or deleted, the recording medium 10 described above may be used.
0, the number of activations of the hard disk device when the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, and for each block in the data recording area of the memory card when the recording medium 100 is a memory card. The data indicating the number of times of data erasure may be updated as necessary.

As described above, if data and programs necessary for the operation of each part of the system and the photographing / recording operation are recorded in advance on the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk, and updated as necessary, the system At the time of startup, the system control circuit 50 can read and execute data and programs recorded on the recording medium 100.

When a series of processing operations as described above are completed, the image file recording operation is completed.

Hereinafter, an electronic still video according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 and 11. The operation of the system will be described.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are flowcharts showing the main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1 as a whole.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, the system control circuit 50 initializes various flags, control variables, and the like (step S111 in the figure) by attaching the power supply unit 82 to the system body (step S111 in FIG. 10). Is set in the nonvolatile memory 90 (step S112 in the figure), and the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode (step S113 in the figure).

As described above, when the battery replacement flag is set in the nonvolatile memory 90, the system control circuit 50 can determine that the battery in the power supply unit 82 has been replaced.

When the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode, the system control circuit 50 turns off the display on the display device 54 as necessary, and the power supply control circuit 80 controls each part as necessary. Power supply to the power supply to prevent unnecessary power consumption.

Then, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk is connected to the system main body (step S114 in the figure), and the recording medium 100 is mounted on the system main body. If it is determined that the recording medium has not been set, the recording medium connection flag is released (step S117 in the figure), the process proceeds to step S118 described later, and the recording medium 1 is stored in the system body.
If it is determined that 00 is attached, a recording medium connection flag is set (step S115 in the figure), and identification of the type of recording medium, data recordable capacity, characteristics of the recording medium, and the like in the recording medium 100 is performed. Information data, the recording medium 1
The camera-related data, the recording medium-related data, and the management data used at the time of photographing and recording the image data recorded in 00 are read from the recording medium, and the recording state of the recording medium 100 is searched (step S116 in the figure). .

Since the detailed description of the search operation has been described with reference to FIG. 4 in the first embodiment and with reference to FIG. 8 in the second embodiment, a detailed description will be given here. Is omitted.

As described above, when the recording medium 100 is mounted on the system main body, the system control circuit 50
Starts the recording medium 100, reads data indicating the type of the recording medium, the recordable capacity of the data, and the like, detects whether or not the file management information is abnormal. Correction, error occurrence warning display, use prohibition of a problem location in the information data recording area 104, and the like can be performed.

Then, the system control circuit 50 turns on the main switch 60 (step S11 in the figure).
8) If the operation mode of the system is the standby mode (step S122 in the figure), the standby mode is released (step S123 in the figure), and the system control circuit 50 needs to display on the display device 54. The power supply control circuit 80 supplies necessary power to each unit for a required period.

The system control circuit 50 reads from the non-volatile memory 90 data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100 and necessary data such as a battery replacement flag or the like. It is stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S124 in the figure), and when a battery replacement flag indicating that the battery has been replaced in the power supply unit 82 is detected (step S125 in the figure) ), The data indicating the number of accumulated shooting recording screens is advanced by a predetermined number (for example, 100 screens) and reset, and then the setting of the battery exchange flag in the nonvolatile memory 90 is canceled (step S126 in the figure). ).

Further, even if the main switch 60 is turned on in step S118, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the system operation mode is not the standby mode in step S122, or the non-volatile memory 90 in step S125. If the battery replacement flag is not detected from the data or the flag read from it and it is detected that the battery in the power supply unit 82 has not been replaced, a step S127 described later is performed.
Proceed to.

On the other hand, in step S118, it is detected that the main switch 60 is in the off state.
When the operation mode of the system is not the standby mode (step S119 in the figure), the system control circuit 50
Reads out data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100, necessary data such as a battery replacement flag or a flag from a register in the system control circuit 50 or a memory 52, The data is written into the memory 90 (step S120 in the figure), the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode (step S121 in the figure), and the process returns to the detection of the presence or absence of the recording medium in the step S114.

If the main switch 60 is turned off in step S118 and if the operation mode of the system is in the standby mode in step S119, it is determined in step S114 whether or not the recording medium is mounted. Return to

Next, the system control circuit 50 checks whether or not the recording medium connection flag has been set, and confirms that the recording medium 100 is mounted on the system main body (step S12 in the figure).
7), and a recording medium 10 connected to the system body
When it is determined that the write protection data indicating the write protection is not set in the recording area 110 of the write protection information of 0 (step S12 in the figure)
8), identification information data of the recording medium 100, camera-related data, recording medium-related data, management data recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100, various modes set by the switch group 56, and the system body The number of remaining recordable screens recorded on the recording medium 100, the date, the photographing operation mode, various messages, etc. are displayed on the display device based on various mode settings set according to the type of the recording medium 100 connected to the It is displayed (step S129 in the figure).

The system control circuit 50 checks whether or not the recording medium connection flag is set, and if it is determined that the recording medium 100 is not mounted on the system body (step S127 in the figure), Is determined to have been set (step S in the figure).
128), a warning display indicating that the recording medium 100 is not connected or the write protection data is set is displayed on the display device 54, and then the presence or absence of the mounting of the recording medium in step S114 is detected. Return (Step S131 in the figure).

Then, the system control circuit 50 checks whether or not a recording medium mismatch flag corresponding to the recording medium 100 mounted on the system main body is set, and the recording medium 100 mounted on the system main body cannot be used in the present system. If the recording medium 100 is a suitable recording medium or if there is no free area for recording data in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 (step S130 in the figure), the recording medium 100 cannot be used for this system. After displaying a warning indicating that there is no data recordable area in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100,
The process returns to the detection of the presence / absence of the mounting of the recording medium in step S114 (step S131 in the figure).

Next, the system control circuit 50 detects the state of the distance measuring / photometric switch 62, and if the distance measuring / photometric switch 62 is off, returns to step S114 (step S132 in the figure). If it is in the ON state, the distance to the subject is measured by the distance measuring circuit 44,
By moving the focusing lens in the distance measurement circuit 44, the focus of the imaging optical system 10 is focused on the object, and the brightness of the object is measured by the light measurement circuit 46. The aperture control and shutter mechanism of the exposure control member 12 are controlled by the exposure control circuit 42 so that the subject optical image formed on the surface has the optimum exposure amount.
To determine the exposure to the subject (step S133 in the figure).

Then, the system control circuit 50 detects the state of the recording start switch 64, and
The distance measuring operation and the photometric operation in step S133 are repeated until is turned on (step S1 in the figure).
34), when it is detected that the recording start switch 64 is turned on, the photographing / recording operation is started, and
The image data obtained by digitizing the analog image signal output from the A / D converter 16 in the A / D converter 16 is stored in the image memory 24 (step S13 in the figure).
5).

The detailed description of the distance measuring operation and the photometric operation will be described with reference to FIG. 5 in the first embodiment, and the detailed description of the photographing operation will be described with reference to FIG. 6 in the first embodiment. The detailed description is omitted here.

During the photographing operation as described above, the system control circuit 50 measures the number of screens of the photographed images and updates the data indicating the cumulative number of photographed recording screens by integrating the measured values. Once stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S136 in the figure),
Further, shooting-related data including data indicating an identification number unique to the system body, such as a manufacturing number of the system body, and data indicating an identification number unique to the shot recording image obtained from the data indicating the number of accumulated shooting recording screens, is stored in the memory. Control circuit 20
(Step S in the figure)
137).

The photographing-related data includes, in addition to the identification number unique to the photographed and recorded image, the type number and serial number of the system body, the size and type of the image pickup device 14 installed in the system body, and the total number of pixels. Number, presence / absence of color filters, type, configuration and characteristics of color filters or their identification numbers, characteristics of infrared blocking filters or their identification numbers, characteristics of optical low-pass filters or their identification numbers, type of photographing lens used for photography Number and serial number, focal length of the shooting lens at shooting, distance measurement distance, aperture value, shutter speed value, continuous shooting speed value, shooting date, shooting time, shooting temperature, white balance type, shooting color There are data indicating the temperature, the use of the strobe device, the type number and the serial number of the strobe device, and the like.

The system control circuit 50 determines whether the value of the data indicating the cumulative number of recording screens among the photographing-related data stored in the image memory 24 is the cumulative photographing number stored in the nonvolatile memory 90. If the number of recording screens has increased by a predetermined number (for example, 100) than the value of the data indicating the number of recording screens (step S138 in the figure), the number of cumulative shooting recording screens is changed to another value such as a battery replacement flag. The contents of the data and flags stored in the non-volatile memory 90 are updated by reading the data and the flags from a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 together with the data and the flags and storing them in the non-volatile memory 90 (see FIG. Step S13
9).

In the above operation, only the data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens among the data and flags stored or set in the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 is read out.
By storing the data in 0, the contents of the data and flags stored in the nonvolatile memory 90 may be updated.

In step S138, the system control circuit 50 stores in the nonvolatile memory 90 the value of the data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens among the shooting-related data stored in the image memory 24. If the value does not increase by a predetermined number (for example, 100) from the value of the data indicating the accumulated number of shot recording screens, the process proceeds to step S140 described later.

In step S140, when it is detected that the recording start switch 64 is still on and the instruction to continue the continuous photographing operation is detected, the system control circuit 50 If there is a vacant area in which image data can be stored (step S141 in the figure), the process returns to step S132, and the above-described processing operation is repeatedly performed.
In step S141, when it is detected that the recording start switch 64 is turned off and the instruction to interrupt the continuous shooting operation is detected, or in step S141, there is no free space in the image memory 24 where image data can be stored. The system control circuit 5
0 indicates that the image data and the photographing-related data
When the information data recording area 104 is recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 together with the image data and the photographing-related data, the use state of each cluster, which is a use unit of the information data recording area 104, Is stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24, the image data and the photographing-related data stored in the image memory 24 are read out, and the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 3
0, connector 108, and interface 106,
After recording in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100, the management data such as the FAT is read from the image memory 24, and the memory control circuit 20, the interface 2
6. The data is recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 via the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106.

The above-mentioned processing operation is performed for each screen in a plurality of photographed images, and is repeated a number of times corresponding to the number of screens of the photographed image. The process returns to the detection of the presence or absence of the mounting of the recording medium (step S142 in the figure).

Since the recording operation has been described in detail in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 7 and in the second embodiment with reference to FIG. 9, the detailed description is omitted here.

In the present embodiment, the data stored in the non-volatile memory 90 or the contents of the information indicated by the flag include data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100, Necessary data or flags, such as an exchange flag, have been described. However, camera-related data, recording medium-related data, and data indicating the recording structure of data on the recording medium 100, which will be described later, and particularly when the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, May be configured such that the number of times of activation of the hard disk device and the like are also stored in the nonvolatile memory 90.

The data stored in the non-volatile memory 90 or the data indicating the data recording structure in the recording medium 100 is stored in the non-volatile memory 90 as the content of the information indicated by the flag. Reads the data indicating the recording structure of the data in the recording medium 100 from the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 every time the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode, and stores the data in the nonvolatile memory 90. Each time the setting of the standby mode is released, data indicating the recording structure of the data in the recording medium 100 is read from the nonvolatile memory 90, and is read and stored in the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. Shows the recording structure of the data on the recording medium 100. In order to obtain a chromatography data, the recording medium 100
Can be recorded or reproduced with respect to the recording medium 100 without having to start up each time.

When the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the data indicating the data recording structure of the recording medium 100 is the number of sectors forming one track on the hard disk in the hard disk device. The number of heads of the hard disk drive, the number of sectors constituting one cluster, the total number of clusters, the position information of the first sector of the first FAT, the position information of the first sector of the second FAT,
The position information of the first sector of the directory entry, the position information of the first sector of the information data recording area, and the last position indicating in which cluster the data has been recorded.
Allocation clusters, next free clusters indicating from which clusters data can be recorded, number of used clusters indicating the number of clusters where data is recorded, and how many remaining clusters can record data And the number of unused clusters.

The above-mentioned position information of each head sector is composed of data such as the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the hard disk.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic still video system to which the present invention is applied as a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an electronic still video according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 13 and 14. The operation of the system will be described.

FIGS. 13 and 14 are flowcharts showing the main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1 as a whole.

In FIGS. 13 and 14, when the power supply unit 82 is mounted on the system body, the system control circuit 5
0 initializes various flags, control variables, and the like (step S151 in the figure), and then stores the battery exchange flag in the nonvolatile memory 9.
It is set to 0 (step S152 in the figure), and the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode (step S153 in the figure).

As described above, when the battery replacement flag is set in the nonvolatile memory 90, the system control circuit 50 can determine that the battery in the power supply unit 82 has been replaced.

After performing necessary processing, the battery replacement flag may be cleared.

When the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode, the system control circuit 50 turns off the display on the display device 54 as necessary, and the power supply control circuit 80 controls each part as needed. Power supply to the power supply to prevent unnecessary power consumption.

Then, the system control circuit 50 determines whether or not the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk is connected to the system main body (step S154 in the figure), and the recording medium 100 is mounted on the system main body. If it is determined that there is no recording medium connection flag, the recording medium connection flag is released (step S157 in the figure), and the process proceeds to step S158 described later.
When it is determined that 00 is mounted, a recording medium connection flag is set (step S155 in the figure), and identification of the type of recording medium, data recordable capacity, characteristics of the recording medium, and the like in the recording medium 100 is performed. Information data, the recording medium 1
The camera-related data and the recording medium-related data used at the time of photographing and recording the image data recorded in 00 are read from the recording medium, and the recording state on the recording medium 100 is searched (step S156 in the figure).

Since the detailed description of the search operation has been described with reference to FIG. 4 in the first embodiment and with reference to FIG. 8 in the second embodiment, a detailed description will be given here. Is omitted.

As described above, when the recording medium 100 is mounted on the system body, the system control circuit 50
Starts the recording medium 100, reads data indicating the type of the recording medium, the recordable capacity of the data, and the like, detects whether or not the file management information is abnormal. Correction, error occurrence warning display, use prohibition of a problem location in the information data recording area 104, and the like can be performed.

Then, the system control circuit 50 turns on the main switch 60 (step S15 in the figure).
8) If the operation mode of the system is the standby mode (step S162 in the figure), the standby mode is released (step S163 in the figure), and the system control circuit 50 needs to display on the display device 54. The power supply control circuit 80 supplies necessary power to each unit for a required period.

[0202] The system control circuit 50 transmits necessary data or flags such as a battery replacement flag and the like indicating the cumulative number of image recording screens of image signals recorded on the recording medium 100 from the nonvolatile memory 116 to the interface. A battery replacement flag that is stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 via the connector 106, the connector 108, the connector 30, and the interface 26 (step S <b> 164 in FIG. Is detected (step S165 in the figure), the data indicating the number of accumulated shooting recording screens is advanced by a predetermined number (for example, 100 screens) and reset, and then the battery in the nonvolatile memory 116 is set. The setting of the exchange flag is canceled (step S166 in the figure).

Further, even if the main switch 60 is turned on in step S158, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the system operation mode is not the standby mode in step S162 or the non-volatile memory 116 in step S165. If the battery replacement flag is not detected from the read data or the flag and it is detected that the battery in the power supply unit 82 has not been replaced, a step S167 described later is performed.
Proceed to.

On the other hand, in step S158, it is detected that the main switch 60 is off, and
When the operation mode of the system is not the standby mode (step S159 in the figure), the system control circuit 50
The data indicating the accumulated shooting recording screen of the image signal recorded on the recording medium 100, necessary data such as a battery exchange flag or a flag is transferred from a register or a memory 52 in the system control circuit 50 to the interface 26, the connector 30, Connector 108, interface 106
Then, the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode (step S161 in the figure), and the process returns to step S154 to detect the presence or absence of the recording medium.

If the main switch 60 is turned off in step S158 and the operation mode of the system is in the standby mode in step S159, it is determined in step S154 whether or not the recording medium is mounted. Return to

Next, the system control circuit 50 checks whether or not the recording medium connection flag is set, and finds that the recording medium 100 is mounted on the system main body (step S16 in the figure).
7), and a recording medium 10 connected to the system body
When it is determined that the write protection data indicating the write protection is not set in the recording area 110 of the write protection information of No. 0 (step S16 in the figure)
8), identification information data of the recording medium 100, camera-related data, recording medium-related data, management data recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100, various modes set by the switch group 56, and the system body The number of remaining recordable screens recorded on the recording medium 100, the date, the photographing operation mode, various messages, etc. are displayed on the display device based on various mode settings set according to the type of the recording medium 100 connected to the It is displayed (step S169 in the figure).

The system control circuit 50 checks whether or not the recording medium connection flag is set, and if it is determined that the recording medium 100 is not mounted on the system body (step S167 in the figure), Is determined to have been set (step S in the figure).
168), a warning display indicating that the recording medium 100 is not connected or the write protection data is set is displayed on the display device 54, and then the presence or absence of the mounting of the recording medium in step S154 is detected. Return (step S171 in the figure).

Then, the system control circuit 50 checks whether or not a recording medium mismatch flag corresponding to the recording medium 100 mounted on the system main body is set, and the recording medium 100 mounted on the system main body cannot be used in the present system. If the recording medium 100 is an unusable recording medium, or if there is no free area for recording data in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 (step S170 in the figure), the recording medium 100 cannot be used for this system. After displaying a warning indicating that there is no data recordable area in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100,
The process returns to the detection of the presence / absence of the mounting of the recording medium in step S154 (step S171 in the figure).

Next, the system control circuit 50 detects the state of the distance measuring / photometric switch 62, and if the distance measuring / photometric switch 62 is off, returns to the step S154 (step S172 in the figure). If it is in the ON state, the distance to the subject is measured by the distance measuring circuit 44,
By moving the focusing lens in the distance measurement circuit 44, the focus of the imaging optical system 10 is focused on the object, and the brightness of the object is measured by the light measurement circuit 46. The aperture control and shutter mechanism of the exposure control member 12 are controlled by the exposure control circuit 42 so that the subject optical image formed on the surface has the optimum exposure amount.
Is determined for the subject (step S173 in the figure).

Then, the system control circuit 50 detects the state of the recording start switch 64, and
The distance measuring operation and the photometric operation in step S173 are repeated until step 4 is turned on (step S173 in the figure).
173) When it is detected that the recording start switch 64 has been turned on, the photographing / recording operation is started and the image sensor 1
A / D converter 16 converts the analog image signal output from
Is stored in the image memory 24 (step S17 in the figure).
5).

The detailed description of the distance measuring operation and the photometric operation will be described with reference to FIG. 5 in the first embodiment, and the detailed description of the photographing operation will be described with reference to FIG. 6 in the first embodiment. The detailed description is omitted here.

During the above-described photographing operation, the system control circuit 50 measures the number of screens of the image photographed and recorded on the recording medium 100, and indicates the accumulated number of photographed and recorded screens by integrating the measured values. Updating the data, the system control circuit 50
Is temporarily stored in a register or the memory 52 (step S176 in the figure), and further indicates data indicating an identification number unique to the recording medium, such as a manufacturing number of the recording medium 100, and the number of accumulated recording screens of the recording medium 100. The photographing-related data including the identification number unique to the photographed and recorded image obtained from the data is stored in the image memory 24 via the memory control circuit 20 (step S177 in the figure).

The photographing-related data includes the identification number unique to the photographed and recorded image, the type number and the serial number of the system main body, and the image pickup device 1 installed in the system main body.
4, size and type and total number of pixels, presence or absence of color filters, types and configurations and characteristics of color filters or their identification numbers, characteristics of infrared blocking filters or their identification numbers, characteristics of optical low-pass filters or their identification numbers, imaging Type number and serial number of the photographic lens used for shooting, focal length of the photographic lens at shooting, ranging distance, aperture value, shutter speed value, continuous shooting speed value, shooting date, shooting time, shooting temperature, white There are data indicating the type of balance, the color temperature at the time of shooting, the use of a strobe device, the type number and the serial number of the strobe device, and the like.

The system control circuit 50 records in the nonvolatile memory 90 the value of the data indicating the number of cumulative photographing recording screens of the recording medium 100 among the photographing-related data stored in the image memory 24. If the value of the data indicating the number of accumulated shooting and recording screens has increased by a predetermined number (for example, 100) (step S178 in the figure), the number of accumulated shooting and recording screens of the recording medium 100 is increased. , Together with other data and flags, such as a battery replacement flag, from a register in the system control circuit 50 or from the memory 52, and stored in the non-volatile memory 116 via the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106. The contents of the data and flags stored in the nonvolatile memory 116 are updated (step S1 in the figure). 9).

In the above operation, only the data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens out of the data and flags stored or set in the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 is read out.
The data stored in the nonvolatile memory 116 and the contents of the flags may be updated by recording the data in the nonvolatile memory 116.

In step S 178, the system control circuit 50 determines that the value of the data indicating the cumulative number of photographed recording screens of the recording medium 100 in the photographing-related data stored in the image memory 24 is the non-volatile data. Memory 9
If the value does not increase by a predetermined number (for example, 100) than the value of the data indicating the number of accumulated shooting recording screens stored in 0, the process proceeds to step S180 described later.

If it is detected in step S180 that the recording start switch 64 is still on and the instruction to continue the continuous shooting operation is detected, the system control circuit 50 If there is a free space in the memory 24 where image data can be stored (step S181 in the figure), the process returns to step S172, and the above-described processing operation is repeated.
0, the recording start switch 64 is turned off, and it is detected that the continuous shooting recording operation is instructed to be interrupted, or in step S181, there is a space available for storing image data in the image memory 24. When there is no area and the photographing operation cannot be performed, the system control circuit 50 transmits the image data and the photographing-related data to the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 together with the image data and the photographing-related data. When recording in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100, the image data and the photographing-related data are to be stored in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100. F indicating the use state of
While the management data such as the AT is stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24, the image data and the photographing-related data stored in the image memory 24 are read out, and the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30,
After recording in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 via the connector 108 and the interface 106,
The management data such as the FAT is read from the image memory and recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 via the memory control circuit 20, the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108, and the interface 106.

The above-described processing operation is performed for each screen in a plurality of captured images, and is repeated a number of times corresponding to the number of screens of the captured image. When a series of processing operations is completed, the process proceeds to step S154. The process returns to the detection of the presence or absence of the mounting of the recording medium (step S182 in the figure).

Since the details of the recording operation have been described with reference to FIG. 7 in the first embodiment and FIG. 9 in the second embodiment, detailed description will be omitted here.

In the present embodiment, the data stored in the non-volatile memory 116 or the contents of the information indicated by the flag include the data indicating the cumulative number of shot recording screens of the image signal recorded on the recording medium 100 and the battery. Although necessary data or flags such as an exchange flag have been described, camera-related data, recording medium-related data,
In the case where the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the number of times the hard disk device is started, and the like are also stored in the nonvolatile memory 11.
6 may be stored.

The data stored in the nonvolatile memory 116 or the content of the information indicated by the flag is configured so that the data indicating the recording structure of the data in the recording medium 100 is stored in the nonvolatile memory 116. Reads the data indicating the recording structure of the data on the recording medium 100 from the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 53 every time the operation mode of the system is set to the standby mode, and stores the data in the nonvolatile memory 116. Each time the setting of the standby mode is released, the data indicating the recording structure of the data in the recording medium 100 is read from the nonvolatile memory 116, and is read and stored in the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. By configuring, the recording medium 100
In order to obtain the data indicating the recording structure of the data, the recording medium 100 is not activated every time.
It is possible to record or reproduce file data with respect to.

When the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the data indicating the data recording structure of the recording medium 100 is the number of sectors constituting one track on the hard disk in the hard disk device. The number of heads of the hard disk drive, the number of sectors constituting one cluster, the total number of clusters, the position information of the first sector of the first FAT, the position information of the first sector of the second FAT,
The position information of the first sector of the directory entry, the position information of the first sector of the information data recording area, and the last position indicating in which cluster the data has been recorded.
Allocation clusters, next free clusters indicating from which clusters data can be recorded, number of used clusters indicating the number of clusters where data is recorded, and how many remaining clusters can record data And the number of unused clusters.

The above-mentioned position information of each head sector is constituted by data such as the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the hard disk.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the file search operation routine in step S41 in FIG. 4 and step S87 in FIG.

In FIG. 15, system control circuit 50
Is the recording medium 10 connected to the system body 200
0 is read from the management data indicating various parameters recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100.
After being stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the interface 106, the connector 108, the connector 30 of the system main unit, the interface 26, and the memory control circuit 20, the data is read out again via the memory control circuit 20 to perform system control. By storing the data in a register in the circuit 50 or the memory 52, drive parameters used for recording data on the recording medium 100 are initialized (step S201 in the figure).

Incidentally, the drive parameters include, for example, the FA recorded in the management data recording area 102.
There is data indicating the first sector of T, the first sector of a directory entry, the first sector of data recorded in the information data recording area 104, the last allocation cluster indicating the number of the cluster in which the data was recorded last, and the like. .

The drive parameter initialization operation will be described later in detail.

When the drive parameter initialization operation is completed (step S202 in the figure), data indicating a directory entry recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 is searched (FIG. 14). Step S203).

A detailed description of the search operation for the data indicating the directory entry will be described later.

Then, when an entry capable of recording data is detected by searching for data indicating a directory entry (step S20 in the figure)
4), FA recorded in the management data recording area 102
Search for data indicating T (step S20 in the figure)
5).

A detailed description of the operation of searching for the data indicating the FAT will be described later.

If a cluster capable of recording data in the information data recording area 104 is detected by searching for data indicating the FAT, the search operation routine ends and the original operation is terminated. Return to routine.

In the above file search operation routine,
In the step S201, the drive parameter initialization operation does not go well (step S202 in the figure), and in the step S203, a directory entry in which data can be recorded cannot be detected (the figure in the figure). In step S204, if the cluster in which data can be recorded cannot be detected in the data indicating the FAT in step S205 (step S206 in the figure), the system control circuit 50 sets the recording disable flag. Is set (step S207 in the figure), the file search operation routine ends,
Return to the original operation routine.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing step S201 of FIG.
5 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a drive parameter initialization operation routine in FIG.

In FIG. 16, system control circuit 50
Is the recording medium 10 connected to the system body 200
0 is read from the management data indicating various parameters recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100.
The data is recorded on the recording medium 100 by storing the data in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the interface 106, the connector 108, the connector 30 of the system body, the interface 26, and the memory control circuit 20. When initialization of the drive parameters is performed, if the initialization of the drive parameters is not completed (step S211 in the figure), the system control circuit 50 initializes the management data recording area of the recording medium 100. From 102, the management data recording area 1 of the recording medium 100
02 and the data recorded in the partition entry sector including the partition information indicating the configuration of the information data recording area 104, and store it in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 (step S21 in the figure).
2).

When the system control circuit 50 confirms that a boot record indicating that the data recorded in the partition entry sector has correct information is present (see FIG. Step S2
13) After necessary parameters are temporarily stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 from the partition data of the data read from the partition entry sector, and then stored in the register in the system control circuit 50 or It is stored in the memory 52 (step S21 in the figure)
4).

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 changes the detailed configuration of the management data recording area 102 and the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 from the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 based on the detected parameters. The data recorded in the boot sector including the indicated information is read and stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 (step S215 in the figure), and the data recorded in the boot sector is correct information. If it is confirmed that there is a boot record indicating that there is (step S216 in the figure), the necessary parameters are read from the data read out of the boot sector and the necessary parameters are stored in the image memory 24. Is temporarily stored in a part of the data recording area, and then stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (FIG. Step S217 of).

The system control circuit 50 determines the number of the first sector of the FAT recorded in the management data recording area 102, the first sector of the directory entry, the first sector of the data recorded in the information data recording area 104, and the like. Is calculated and stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or in the memory 52 (step S in the figure).
218) In addition, the number of clusters, which are the unit of use of the information data recording area 104, is calculated and stored in a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S219 in the figure).

If the total number of calculated and stored clusters is equal to or greater than 4096, a setting is made to use a 16-bit FAT (steps S220 and S22 in the figure).
1) If the number is less than 4096, after setting to use a 12-bit FAT (steps S220 and S220 in the figure)
222), the system control circuit 50 initializes the last allocation cluster indicating the number of the cluster in which the data was recorded last (step S223 in the figure), ends the drive parameter initialization operation routine, and returns to the original Return to the operation routine.

In addition, step S213 or step S213
At 216, the data recorded in the partition entry sector or the boot sector is
If the record does not exist, an error
The flag is set (step S224 in the figure), the drive parameter initialization operation routine ends, and the process returns to the original operation routine.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing step S203 of FIG.
9 is a flowchart for describing in detail a directory entry search operation routine in FIG.

In FIG. 17, system control circuit 50
Is the recording medium 10 connected to the system body 200
0 is read from the data indicating the directory entry recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 1.
The data is stored in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 via the interface 106, the connector 108, the connector 30 of the system main body 200, the interface 26, and the memory control circuit 20, thereby searching for data indicating a directory entry. When the search operation for the data indicating the directory entry is not completed (step S23 in the figure)
1) Data indicating the number of the first directory entry is set in a register in the system control circuit 50 (step S232 in the figure), and among the data recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100, The data recorded in the sector including the directory entry number set in the register in the system control circuit 50 is read (step S233 in the figure), and is set in the register in the system control circuit 50. If the directory entry with the number indicates the data erased attribute (step S234 in the figure), the data indicating the directory entry number is stored in the data recording area set in the image memory 24 or in the system recording area. Writing to a register in the control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step in the figure) S235).

[0243] Until a directory entry having an attribute of unrecorded data is detected (step S236 in the figure), the directory entry number is incremented (step S238 in the figure) and the data is read. The search operation is continued until the number of unsearched directory entries in the sector is exhausted (step S239 in the figure).

When the number of the unsearched directory entry in the sector from which the data is being read is lost (step S239 in the figure), the sector number is incremented (step S240 in the figure), and the data is read. The search operation is continued until there is no more the sector number of the directory entry from which data is read (step S2 in the figure).
41) If the sector number of the directory entry from which data is to be read is lost (step S2 in the figure)
41), the empty directory entry no flag is written into the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52, the directory entry search operation routine is ended, and the process returns to the original operation routine (step S24 in the figure).
2).

If a directory entry indicating an unrecorded attribute is detected in step S 236, the system control circuit 50 stores data indicating the directory entry number in the image memory 2.
Then, the data is written to the data recording area set to No. 4, the register in the system control circuit 50, or the memory 52 (step S237 in the figure), the directory entry search operation routine ends, and the operation returns to the original operation routine.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing step S205 in FIG.
File allocation table (FA
12 is a flowchart for describing a search operation routine in detail.

In FIG. 18, the system control circuit 50 reads management data recorded in the management data recording area 102 from the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100, and reads the interface 106, the connector 108, the system main body of the recording medium 100. The FAT is indicated by writing once to a data recording area set in the image memory 24 via the connector 30, the interface 26, and the memory control circuit 20 of the 200, and then reading it into a register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. The data search operation is performed. If the data search operation indicating the FAT has not been completed (step S251 in the figure), the system control circuit 50 determines the drive parameter as one of the drive parameters in the system control circuit 50. Register or memory 52
Is set to the register or the memory 52 in the system control circuit 50 by adding "1" to the value indicated by the last allocation cluster stored in the register (step S252 in the figure) and set. The data recorded in the sector including the cluster of the assigned number is read from the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 (Step S253 in the figure).

[0248] Then, the system control circuit 50 determines in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 that the empty FAT indicates that it is a cluster in which data can be recorded.
Is detected (step S25 in the figure).
4) Further, when the number of the entry of the detected empty FAT is the first one detected (step S in the figure)
255), the FAT immediately before the entry number of the empty FAT
Is stored in the register in the system control circuit 50 or in the memory 52 as the last allocation cluster (step S256 in the figure), so that the cluster number for recording the next data is not newly searched. Can be detected at the same time.

Then, the system control circuit 50 sets the empty FAT
Every time an entry is detected, the number of empty clusters is integrated (step S257 in the figure), whereby the recording medium 10
This makes it possible to detect the amount of data that can be recorded in the 0 information data recording area 104 without newly searching.

Further, the system control circuit 50 increments the FAT entry number (step S in the figure).
258), unsearched F in the sector from which data is being read
The search operation is continued until the AT entry number is exhausted (step S259 in the figure).

If the number of the unsearched FAT entry in the sector from which data is being read is lost (step S259 in the figure), the sector number is incremented (step S260 in the figure), and the data is read. Until the sector number of the FAT entry for reading
The search operation is continued (step S261 in the figure), and FA
When the number of the sector of the entry of T has been exhausted (step S261 in the figure), the search operation routine for the entry of the FAT ends, and the operation returns to the original operation routine.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the file recording operation routine in step S73 in FIG. 7 and steps S103 and S107 in FIG.

In FIG. 19, system control circuit 50
First, as one of the drive parameters, the number of the cluster obtained by adding “1” to the value of the last allocation cluster stored in the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 is assigned to the FAT. The data entry number is set in a register in the system control circuit 50 as a data entry number (step S271 in the figure), and the data recorded in the sector including the set FAT entry number is recorded in the management data of the recording medium 100. The data is read from the area 102 and the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100
06, the connector 108, the connector 30 of the system main body 200, the interface 26, and the memory control circuit 20 to write to the data recording area set in the image memory 24 (step S272 in the figure).

Then, the system control circuit 50 determines in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 that there is an empty F indicating that data recording is a recordable cluster.
Whether the number of the AT entry is detected (step S273 in the figure) or the number of the FAT entry is incremented (step S281 in the figure), and the number of the unsearched FAT entry in the sector from which data is read is read. The search operation is continued until there are no more numbers (step S282 in the figure).

If the number of the unsearched FAT entry in the sector from which data is being read is lost (step S282 in the figure), the sector number is incremented (step S283 in the figure) and the data is read. The search operation is continued until there is no more FAT sector number from which is read (step S284 in the figure).

If the number of the empty FAT entry is detected in step S273, the system control circuit 50 sets the detected empty FAT entry number as a cluster number and sets When the recording medium 100 is a hard disk device, the system control circuit 50 obtains a cylinder number, a head number, and a sector number corresponding to the cluster number set in the register (step S274 in the figure).
The image data stored in the image memory 24 is read out by the memory control circuit 20 by designating the interface 106 of the recording medium 100 (step S275 in the figure),
The recording corresponding to the cylinder number, head number, and sector number specified for the interface 106 by the system control circuit 50 via the interface 26, the connector 30, the connector 108 of the recording medium 100, and the interface 106 of the system main body 200. Medium 10
0 is recorded in the cluster in the information data recording area 104 (step S276 in the figure).

Also, the system control circuit 50 operates the image memory 24 set for storing management data recorded in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100.
The cluster number in the information data recording area 104 of the recording medium 100 on which the image data is recorded is stored in the FAT table provided in a part of the data recording area (step S277 in the figure).

In the recording operation described above, all the image data stored in the image memory 24 is read, and the recording medium 1 is read.
00 until it is recorded at 00 (step S27 in the figure)
8).

When the FAT table is full of the stored data (step S279 in the figure), the FA
Since the column of the cluster number indicated by the data stored in the T table is the value of the FAT chain to be written in the FAT entry, the management of the recording medium 100 is performed in the corresponding FAT sector in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100. The data recorded in the FAT table provided in a part of the data recording area of the image memory 24 set for storing the management data recorded in the data recording area 102 is stored in the memory of the system main body 200. Control circuit 2
0, interface 26, connector 30, recording medium 10
0 through the connector 108 and the interface 106 (step S280 in the figure).

Then, when all the image data recorded in the image memory 24 has been read (step S2 in the figure)
78) At the end of the FAT table, data “FFh” indicating the end cluster of the FAT chain is written (step S285 in the figure), and the data indicating the column of the cluster number stored in the FAT table is stored in the FAT table. Is recorded in the corresponding FAT sector in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 (step S286 in the figure) as data indicating the value of the entry number of the recording medium 100. Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 Information data recording area 1
The management data corresponding to the image data recorded in the recording medium 100 is obtained, and an empty directory entry in the management data recording area 102 of the recording medium 100 is stored in the interface 26 of the system main body 200, the connector 30, the connector 108 of the recording medium 100, and the interface. 106 (step S287 in the figure), and the system control circuit 5
In order to update the value of the last allocation cluster, data indicating the value of the last allocation cluster stored in the register in the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 is used as one of the drive parameters to update the value of the last allocation cluster. Rewrite and return to the original operation routine (step S288 in the figure).

In the system of the present invention, as shown in the present embodiment, the recording medium 100 is not limited to a memory card or a hard disk device, but may be a micro DAT (digital audio tape), a magneto-optical disk device, or an optical disk device. And the like, and the same effect as the present invention can be obtained.

Further, the system of the present invention can
Numeral 0 is a composite recording medium in which a memory card and a hard disk device are integrally formed, and the composite recording medium has a structure in which a memory card section or a hard disk section is detachable and can be arbitrarily connected to or separated from the composite recording medium body. Of course, the composite recording medium is not only a memory card and a hard disk device, but also a micro DAT,
A configuration in which two or more types of recording media including a magneto-optical disk, an optical disk, and the like are combined may be employed.

In the present embodiment, the recording medium 100 such as a memory card or a hard disk drive is described as being detachable from the system main body 200 and can be arbitrarily connected or separated.
A configuration in which more than two types of recording media can be connected,
Further, two or more types of recording media are fixed to the system main body, or a part of the two or more types of recording media is fixed to the system main body and a part is detachable from the system main body. It is possible and may be configured to be connected or separated arbitrarily.

As described above, in this embodiment, when image data corresponding to an image is recorded on a recording medium such as a memory card or a hard disk, the number of photographing and recording screens is counted, and the counted number of photographing and recording screens is counted. The number of screens is stored in a non-volatile memory in the system main body, and data corresponding to the number of photographed recording screens stored in the non-volatile memory is recorded together with the image data as an identification number, so that the When the predetermined image data recorded is read out in file units and transferred to an external device such as an external computer, a printer device, or a data transmission device, and the external device performs processing, printing, data transmission, and the like. When reading a file of other image data in confusion with a file of another image data or deleting a file of predetermined image data, It is possible to prevent that or accidentally erased erroneously mistaken for other files.

Further, in this embodiment, every time the number of photographed recording screens on the recording medium reaches a predetermined number, data corresponding to the number of photographed recording screens is stored in the non-volatile memory in the system main body. Thus, the number of times data is rewritten to the nonvolatile memory can be reduced, and the life of the nonvolatile memory can be extended.

Further, in this embodiment, when the battery is removed from the system main body and replaced, the contents of the data corresponding to the number of image recording screens stored in the non-volatile memory in the system main body are stored in a predetermined number. By increasing and updating by an amount, the identification number added to the file of the image data already recorded on the recording medium is added to the file of the image data newly recorded on the recording medium. Is read, and the predetermined image data recorded on the recording medium is read out in file units, transferred to an external device such as an external computer, a printer device, or a data transmission device. When performing print processing, data transmission processing, etc., read and confuse with other image data files, or It is possible to prevent that or accidentally erased erroneously mistaken for a file of other image data at the time to erase the file.

[0267]

As described above, according to the present invention, the power supply is temporarily interrupted by updating the management information stored in the storage means for each predetermined number of input information signals. When accumulating the recorded number of the information signal after the detection, the management information corresponding to the accumulated number stored in the storage means, the measured accumulated number is accumulated by the predetermined plurality of input numbers. By updating for several minutes so that
It is possible to prevent the occurrence of management information overlapping with the management information of the information signal already recorded on the recording medium while reducing the number of updates to the recording medium, and to provide an easy-to-use information signal processing device. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic still video system to which the present invention is applied as a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a part of a flowchart showing a main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a part of a flowchart showing a main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a search operation routine in step S15 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a distance measurement / photometry operation routine in step S20 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a shooting operation routine in step S22 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a recording operation routine in step S29 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining in detail another search operation routine in step S15 of FIG. 2 as a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining in detail another recording operation routine in step S29 of FIG. 3 as a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a part of a flowchart showing a main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1 as a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a part of a flowchart showing a main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 1 as a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic still video system to which the present invention is applied as a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a part of a flowchart showing a main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a part of a flowchart showing a main operation routine of the electronic still video system shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for describing in detail a file search operation routine in step S41 of FIG. 4 and step S87 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a drive parameter initialization operation routine in step S201 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a directory entry search operation routine in step S203 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a file allocation table search operation routine in step S205 in FIG. 15;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart for explaining in detail a file recording operation routine in step S73 of FIG. 7 and steps S103 and S107 of FIG. 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 photography science department 12 exposure control member 14 image sensor 16 analog / digital converter 20 memory control circuit 22 image compression / decompression circuit 24 image memory 26 interface 28 data communication control circuit 30 connector 34 connector 36 digital / analog converter 38 image display Device 40 Lens circuit 42 Exposure control circuit 44 Distance measurement circuit 46 Photometry circuit 48 Strobe device 50 System control circuit 52 Control data memory 54 Display device 56 Switch group 58 Two-stage release switch 60 Main switch 62 Distance measurement / photometry switch 64 Recording start switch 66 Shooting / recording mode select switch 68 Recording condition setting switch 70 Erase mode select switch 72 Erase operation start instruction switch 74 Electric mode selection switch 76 Electric operation start instruction switch 80 Electric Control circuit 82 Power supply section 84 Connector 86 Connector 90 Non-volatile memory 100 Recording medium 102 Management data recording area 104 Information data recording area 106 Interface 108 Connector 110 Write protection information recording area 112 Medium identification information recording area 114 Camera-related data recording area 116 Non-volatile memory

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/76 G11B 20/00 H04N 5/781 H04N 5/907 H04N 5/91

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A data signal processing apparatus for recording on a recording medium an information signal to be input, a measuring means for measuring the cumulative number of information signals to be inputted to said number of accumulated to be measured in the measuring means Storing corresponding management information for each of a plurality of predetermined numbers of inputs ;
Outputs the management information as a reference value for measurement by measuring means
Storage means for, enter information signal, the cumulative number of the input information signal
Recording means for adding the corresponding management information to record on a recording medium, power supply means for supplying power required for operating the information signal processing device, and power supply in the power supply means. It has been suspended
If it is detected is memorize in the memory means
The management information corresponding to the cumulative number, by the measuring means
The measured cumulative number is obtained by accumulating the predetermined number of inputs.
An information signal processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that updates the data by a number that does not overlap even if the data signal is duplicated . 2. An information signal to be photographed is recorded on a recording medium.
Information signal processing device, Measuring means for measuring the cumulative number of information signals to be captured; Corresponds to the cumulative number measured by the measuring means
First storage means for temporarily updating and storing management information; The first storage means is temporarily stored in the first storage means for each of a plurality of predetermined shooting numbers.
The stored management information corresponding to the cumulative number is stored in a nonvolatile manner.
Second storage means for updating and storing; The photographed information signal is temporarily stored in the first storage means.
Record to be recorded on a recording medium with the added management information
Means, Supply the power required to operate the information signal processing device.
Power supply means for supplying A method for putting the information signal processing device into a usable state.
In-switch and When the main switch is turned on, the second memory
Management information corresponding to the cumulative number stored in the row
Control means for storing the data in the first storage means; And the control means includes a power supply in the power supply means.
If it is detected that the power supply has been interrupted,
The accumulated number to be temporarily stored in the first storage means
The corresponding management information is stored in the second storage means.
Even if it is updated for the predetermined number of shots,
An information signal processing device characterized by updating for several minutes.