JP3204687B2 - camera - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly, to an IC card for recording image information and an I / O card for exchanging information with an external device or system. About the camera. 2. Description of the Related Art Still video that uses a memory card such as an IC card instead of a silver halide film as a recording medium for recording an optical image and records, reads, and reproduces through a predetermined digital process or other electrical process. 2. Description of the Related Art Cameras (also referred to as solid-state memory cameras) have attracted attention in terms of easiness of reproduction processing and easiness of various processing on images. In image recording and reproduction processing of this kind of camera, at the time of recording, a subject image (optical image) passed through an optical system such as a lens is formed on a photoelectric conversion element such as a CCD and converted into an electric signal (image data). And
When the obtained image data is recorded on a memory card, and the subject image is reproduced as a still image, the subject image is reproduced based on the image data read from the memory card. The image data recorded on the memory card is
This is a digital format signal, which is convenient for performing various signal processing by a computer or the like. Therefore, this type of camera has high utility as an image data input device. [0003] As described above, the conventional solid-state memory camera is easy to perform various signal processings, has high versatility, and has high versatility since the data to be processed is digital image data. The function is also provided.
However, the capacity of a memory card used as a recording medium of such a camera is not so large, and the amount of recordable image data is limited. If the image data is recorded in an external large-capacity memory separate from the camera's built-in memory card, the problem of the limitation of the memory capacity can be solved, but the image data obtained by the camera is output to an external memory device in real time. It is difficult. This problem also occurs when image data is output to an external device such as a computer. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a camera which eliminates a limitation caused by the capacity of a built-in memory card and enables recording of image data within an allowable range of a storage capacity of a memory provided in an external device. It is in. Another object of the present invention is to provide a camera capable of transmitting and receiving image data to and from an external device / apparatus in real time. [0005] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a camera according to the present invention has an identification for identifying whether an IC card loaded therein is an I / O card or a memory card. Means, and when the identification means identifies that the I / O card is loaded, the image information is transmitted to the I / O card.
An image information transmission / reception unit configured to transmit / receive data to / from the device or system connected via an I / O card; a recording status determination unit configured to determine a data recording status of the memory card; When it is determined that a memory card is loaded, it is displayed that the memory card is loaded, and when it is determined by the recording status determination means that there is no unrecorded area in the memory card, the memory card is loaded. A display unit configured to display that the memory is full. According to the present invention, whether an IC card loaded in a camera body is an I / O card or a memory card is identified, and when the loaded IC card is an I / O card, image information is determined. Is transmitted / received to / from an external device / system via an I / O card, whereby the memory card and the I / O card can be operated in a mode suitable for each of the cards, and the loaded card can be operated. When the IC card is a memory card, a memory card is displayed, and when the memory is full (FULL) from the recording status of the memory card, a display is displayed to indicate that the memory card is full. Can be grasped that the is loaded and the recording status of the card. Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment of a camera according to the present invention. The subject image is formed on an imaging device 12 such as a CCD via a photographing lens 11, converted into an electric signal there, converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter 13, and converted into one frame of image data as a RAM 14. Will be recorded. During playback,
The image data read from the RAM 14 is converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter 15, converted into a normal video signal by a video encoder 16, and output. On the other hand, the memory card 3 loaded in the camera body,
When sending image data to an external device 5 such as a computer, the image data read from the RAM 14 is subjected to orthogonal transformation processing or the like by a compression / decompression circuit 17 to obtain compressed image data. To send to. compression/
JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Grou
Circuits specified in standards such as p) are used. The system control circuit 19 is a circuit that controls the entire operation of the camera, and controls switching of the bus switching unit 18, for example. The display unit 20 has a display element such as an LCD and displays a camera operation state and the like. The operation unit 21 has an operation unit for outputting an operation instruction signal of the camera, and includes, for example, a recording switch. The bus switching unit 18 receives the bus switching signal from the system control circuit 19 and controls the compression / decompression circuit 17 and the card interface (I
/ F) The circuit 22 is switched to the system control circuit 19. The main body of the camera 1 is provided with a loading section for loading the memory card 3 and the I / O card 4, and a card interface circuit 22 is provided between the loaded card and the bus switching section 18. Body side,
Processing such as data format conversion suitable for data transfer between cards is performed. The compressed image data transmitted through the card interface circuit 22 is recorded on the memory card 3, and the image data read from the memory card 3 is compressed / decompressed via the card interface circuit 22 and the bus switching unit 18. The data is sent to the circuit 17, subjected to decompression processing, and recorded in the RAM 14. I / O card 4
Is a card having pins in the same position as the memory card 3 and having the same structure and shape, converts image data supplied from the card interface circuit 22 into a predetermined format, and converts the image data into an external device 5 such as a computer via the cable 6. To send to. These image data are also recorded in a memory connected to the external device 5. On the other hand, the image data supplied from the external device 5 is sent to the I / O card 4 via the cable 6, converted into data conforming to the format of the camera body via the card interface circuit 22, and switched to the bus. It is sent to the unit 18. FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the configuration near the card interface circuit 22 in FIG. The card interface circuit 22 includes a card detection circuit 221.
And a memory designating circuit 222. As will be described later, the card detection circuit 221 detects a signal from a port provided in the memory card 3 or the I / O card 4 to detect the presence / absence of a card (whether or not a card is loaded in a camera), To the system control circuit 19. Two pins are assigned to ports provided in the memory card 3 or the I / O card 4, a ground potential is applied according to the standard, and the presence or absence of the card is detected by detecting the LOW level of this port. Memory designation circuit 222
Supplies a REG signal to the memory card 3 or the I / O card 4 based on a signal from the system control circuit 19, and designates an attribute information memory and an image data memory built in the card. The memory card 3 has a configuration as shown in FIG. 3, and when loaded into the camera body, a port P connected to the card detection circuit 221 of the card interface circuit 22.
1 (grounded) and a port P2 connected to the memory designation circuit 222. These are described in JEIDA Ver. 4 is configured. Transfer of image data between the card memory 3 and the camera 1 is performed via the interface circuit 31 and the card interface circuit 22 of the camera body. The attribute information memory 33 is a memory for storing data describing physical and electrical characteristics of the memory card conforming to the JEIDA card standard, for example, information indicating that the memory card is a memory card. The image data memory 34 is a memory such as an SRAM conforming to the JEIDA standard, in which image data is recorded in an arbitrary format such as a DOS format. The attribute information memory 33 and the image data memory 34 are switched and connected to the interface circuit 31 by a bus switching unit 32 that is switched and controlled by a REG signal from the port P2. As shown in FIG. 4, the detailed configuration of the I / O card 4 is the same as that of the memory card 3 in JEIDA Ver.
P1 and port P that constitute a connector compliant to
2, an attribute information memory 43 for storing a code different from that of the card memory 3, and a bus controller 44.
It is comprised including. REG supplied from port P2
The signal causes the bus switching unit 42 to connect either the attribute information memory 43 or the bus controller 44 to the interface circuit 41. The bus controller 44 is a SCSI
(Small Computer System Interface) A controller that performs protocol control based on (Small Computer System Interface) and controls data transfer with the external device 5 via the cable 6. The bus controller 44 is not limited to the SCSI, but may be based on another standard such as a GPIB controller. The external device 5 is a data processing device such as a personal computer, and performs processing such as display, processing, compression, and decompression of image data. The operation and processing procedure of this embodiment will be described below. This camera has a memory card 3 and an I / O card 4
When none of them is loaded, the camera operates as a normal camera. First, the card detection circuit 221 of the card interface circuit 22 outputs the LO from the port P1 of the card.
It is determined whether or not a card is loaded based on whether or not the W level is detected (step S1). If it is determined that a card is loaded, a REG signal is sent to the bus switching units 32 and 42 via the port P2 to select the attribute information memory of the card, and the contents of the attribute information memory are read (step S2). ). The contents of the attribute memory are read, and it is determined whether or not the card is an inserted card or an I / O card according to the code of the card attribute information (step S).
3) If it is determined that the card is not an I / O card (if it is a memory card), a display indicating that the card is a memory card is displayed on the display unit 20 of the camera body as shown in FIG. S4), a normal camera operation described later is performed (step S5). In step S3, I
If it is determined that the card is an I / O card, the display unit 20 displays FIG.
As shown in (B), the fact that the card is an I / O card is displayed (step S6), and the operation of the I / O card described later is performed (step S7). FIG. 6 shows a normal camera operation and processing procedure. When a memory card is loaded, image data is recorded as a file in the image data memory 34 by the well-known DOS FAT system. next,
The directory is read (step S11), the recording status of data in the image data memory is checked, and it is determined whether or not there is an unrecorded area (step S12). When it is determined that there is no unrecorded area, the fact that the memory is full (FULL) is displayed on the display unit 20 as shown in FIG. 8C. If it is determined in step S12 that there is an unrecorded area, the address of the data bus is set to the unrecorded area, that is, the head address of the unrecorded area is recorded in a register in the system control circuit 19, and ( Step S14), ON / OFF of the recording switch of the operation unit 21
Is determined (step S15). When the recording switch is ON, the image data is A / D converted (step S16), and then the compression and recording processing is performed (step S1).
7). That is, after the data is read out by switching the bus to the compression / expansion circuit 17, the image data is recorded on the memory card 3 by switching to the memory card 3 and specifying the address. Then, the recording area is written in the directory according to the DOSFAT system, and the DOSFAT system is managed (step S18). Then, step S1
The process returns to step 5. When the I / O card is inserted and loaded, the I / O card is connected to the external device 5 via the cable 6.
The O card 4 controls data transfer. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, when the I / O card operates, the bus is switched to the I / O card side and the register of the bus controller is read to determine whether or not the SCSI command is received. A determination is made (step S21). If it is determined that the SCSI command has been received, it is determined whether or not the command is a continuous transmission command (step S22). This determination is made by assigning a code unique to the system. When it is determined in step S22 that the command is not a continuous transmission command but a one-shot recording command, it is determined whether or not there is a recording command.
If it is a recording command, the image signal is A / D converted (step S24), the image data is transmitted via the interface circuit (step S25), and the process returns to the recording command waiting state of the processing of step S23. If it is determined in step S22 that the command is a continuous transmission command, the image signal is A / D converted (step S26), and the process of continuously transmitting the image data (step S27) is repeated. In the image data transmission processing in steps S25 and S27, the camera detects the loading of the I / O card and controls the bus controller on the I / O card to enable data transmission.
That is, the camera switches the bus to the compression / decompression circuit side, reads the data, switches to the I / O card side, writes the data to the transmission register of the bus controller, and repeats this for the image data. As a result, the camera can transmit to the outside via the I / O card. In the camera according to the present invention, after the memory card and the I / O card are identified, the operation in the mode corresponding to the identification result is enabled. Operate in a suitable mode and only when an I / O card is loaded
Obviously, it can also be configured to operate in an operating mode compatible with the card. . As described above, according to the camera of the present invention, the camera operates in a mode suitable for each of the memory card and the I / O card, and furthermore, the memory card When the memory card is loaded, the usability as an image input device is remarkably improved, for example, a display indicating that a memory card is loaded and a display of a recording state of the memory are displayed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing one embodiment of a camera according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration block diagram of a main part in the embodiment of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a memory card according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an I / O card according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a normal camera according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the I / O card according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a display unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Description of Signs] 1 Camera body 3 Memory card 4 I / O card 5 External device 6 Cable 11 Photographing lens 12 Imaging device 13 A /
D converter 14 RAM 15 D /
A converter 16 Video encoder 17 Compression / expansion circuit 18 Bus switching section 19 System control circuit 20 Display section 21 Operation section 22 Card interface circuits 31, 41 Interface circuits 32, 42 Bus switching sections 33, 43
Attribute information memory 34 Image data memory 44 Bus controller 221 Card detection circuit 222 Memory designation circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/222-5/257 G06K 19/00 H04N 5/907

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims]Check whether the IC card loaded in the player is an I / O card.
An identification means for identifying whether the card is a card, It is recognized that the I / O card is loaded by the identification means.
When separated, the image information is transmitted via the I / O card.
Send / receive to the connected device or system
Image information transmitting and receiving means, Recording status to determine the data recording status of the above memory card
Determining means; The above-mentioned identification means recognizes that the memory card is loaded.
When separated, the memory card must be loaded
Is displayed and the recording status determination means
When it is determined that there is no unrecorded area on the memory card
Indicates that the memory of the memory card is full.
A display unit adapted to A camera comprising: