JP3306093B2 - Image information recording 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 image information recording apparatus, and more particularly to an image information recording apparatus in which a recording processing time is reduced.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an image information recording apparatus such as an electronic camera uses a DOS FAT system as a recording format in order to ensure data compatibility and manageability with other apparatuses such as a personal computer. In a conventional electronic camera using an IC memory card as a recording medium, a video signal obtained from a CCD is converted into a digital signal, temporarily stored in a frame memory, and subjected to an orthogonal transformation process into image data read from the frame memory. And a compression process including an encoding process, and is recorded on the IC memory card as compressed image data.

FIG. 5 shows the recording operation timing of this type of conventional image information recording apparatus. The recording operation will be described with reference to FIG. 5. When a recording start signal (trigger 2) is input from the operation unit, exposure starts at the next falling timing of the vertical synchronization signal VD. After the exposure for a predetermined time is completed, C is applied during the period from the next rise to the fall of VD.
The image data of the CD is read and written to the frame memory. After reading the image data from the CCD,
The built-in CPU (system controller) checks the FAT (management information area) of the recording medium (IC memory card) (card access), and confirms the recording area of data to be recorded from now on. Thereafter, compression processing is performed to compress the image data and record the image data on the IC memory card.
When the compression and recording of the image data are completed, the CP
U for header information of image data just recorded (imaging date and time, imaging data (number of pixels, field / frame, etc.))
Is written, and when all data has been written,
Finally, the FAT of the data just recorded is written. The data thus recorded is recognized by the system as one DOS file.

[0004]

The conventional image information recording apparatus as described above, after the CCD data is read,
After the FAT is checked and the compressed data is written by the CPU via the data bus, the header information and the FAT are written. That is, during the data reading period of the CCD (typically, about 16 ms), the CPU
Does not perform any special processing.
The data bus to and from the memory card is also free. on the other hand,
Access to an IC memory card related to FAT checking, header information writing, FAT writing, etc. performed before and after the data compression writing process significantly slows down the recording speed of image data, and becomes an obstacle to high-speed continuous shooting. Occurs.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image information recording apparatus in which the recording speed is remarkably increased.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an image information recording apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention stores image information generated by photographing or supplied from outside temporarily in an image memory means. After performing a predetermined information compression process, the applied information recording medium has a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each piece of different image information and an area of image data representing the image information. An image information recording apparatus adapted to store the image information in the image memory means and access to the management information area of the applied information recording medium. It is configured to have means for performing in parallel.

An image information recording apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention stores image information generated by photography or supplied from the outside once in an image memory means, and then performs predetermined information compression processing. The applied information recording medium is stored as each image information file in a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each piece of image information and an area of image data representing the image information. In the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention, at least in the continuous recording operation mode, the sequentially supplied recording image information is sequentially stored in the image data area of the information recording medium to which the recording image information is applied. Is stored in the management information area of the same medium.

[0008]

According to the present invention, recording processing time is greatly reduced by performing image data writing and access to the management information area of the recording medium in parallel.

[0009]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention. This embodiment is an example of application to the above-described electronic camera. At the time of recording, a subject image formed on an imaging system 2 such as a CCD via an optical system 1 is converted into an image signal. This image signal is supplied to the clamp circuit 3
Is performed to keep the DC level constant, and is converted into digital image data by the A / D conversion circuit 4, and then temporarily written to the frame memory 6 under the control of the memory control circuit 5. The image data read from the frame memory 6 is converted by the DCT / IDCT circuit 7
Orthogonal transformation processing such as (discrete cosine transformation) is performed to perform data conversion necessary for data compression, and the coder / decoder circuit 8 performs data compression processing. This data compression processing is performed based on information such as an encoding table read from the auxiliary memory 9 via the data bus 20, and the compressed data is written to the IC memory card 10.

On the other hand, at the time of reproduction, the IC memory card 10
The image data read from the
In the DCT / IDCT circuit 7, an inverse orthogonal transform process such as IDCT (inverse discrete cosine transform) is performed, and the result is written in the frame memory 6. After all the image data has been decompressed, the image data is read out from the frame memory 6, subjected to digital processing suitable for the NTSC image signal in the digital process circuit 11, and subjected to the analog image signal in the D / A conversion circuit 12. Is converted to The analog image signal is supplied to an external output terminal 15 while an image is reproduced by an EVF (electronic viewfinder) 14 through a 75 Ω driver 13. From the character generator 16, character data for performing on-screen display such as date and time on the display screen is supplied to the digital process circuit 11. The system controller 19 controls each unit based on various instruction signals from the operation unit 18. The display unit 17 displays the operation state of the electronic camera and the like.
In the above configuration, in response to the input of the trigger 2 signal from the operation unit 18, the system controller 19
It controls D reading, data compression, writing to an IC memory card, and the like.

The operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to the timing chart shown in FIG. In the conventional example shown in FIG.
Access to the IC memory card by U was performed twice after reading out the data from the CCD and after compressing the data, which was an obstacle to high-speed recording. In contrast, in the present embodiment,
Access to the IC memory card is performed simultaneously with the data reading period of the CCD to enable high-speed recording. That is, as shown in FIG.
This is also performed during the data reading period of the CCD. This access includes checking the recording area of the data to be recorded by checking the FAT, writing the header information of the data to be recorded, and checking the FAT of the data to be recorded.
This includes AT writing and the like, and generally refers to access to the management information area of the IC memory card, and all of them are performed in advance in this period. Here, in order to perform the FAT writing of the recording data in advance, it is necessary to determine the size of the recording data in advance. Or, in many cases, no problem arises. According to the present embodiment, the CCD readout period (about 16
ms) using the vacant data bus
Since the various accesses to the memory card are performed, the recording time of one sheet and the recording time of data can be remarkably reduced.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart of a recording operation in the second embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention. In the first embodiment, during the CCD readout period, the CPU
Although the data to be written to the IC memory card is related data of the data to be recorded from now on, the present embodiment writes the related data of the recording data recorded immediately before. That is, during the CCD reading period # 1 of the first frame, the FAT of the recording area to be recorded from now on
Only the check is performed, and the writing of the header information of the first recording data and the writing of the FAT are performed by the C of the second frame.
It is performed during the CD reading period # 2. Furthermore,
In this period # 2, the FAT check of the recording area of the second (frame to be recorded) is performed. Hereinafter, similarly, 3
Recording is performed until the end of the continuous shooting of the fourth and fourth frames. According to the present embodiment, the writing of the FAT of the recording data is performed after the writing of the compressed data, which is particularly effective when the size of the data to be recorded is not known in advance.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of a recording operation in a third embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, each time one image is recorded, various data related to the data is written. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, after a series of continuous photographing is completed, these various data are written together. That is, in the card access performed during the CCD reading period of each frame, an access for checking the FAT related to each frame to the IC memory card is performed during the CCD reading periods # 1, # 2, # 3,. After each access, compression processing and writing of compressed data are performed, and after the n-th FAT check and the writing of image data of the n-th frame are completed, various data of the first to n-th frames (header Information, FAT, etc.) are written together.

The present invention is, of course, applicable to an image filing apparatus which is supplied as data conforming to an image information file from outside, in addition to the electronic camera described above. In the case of an image file device, the data read operation of the CCD (corresponding to the operation of temporarily storing the read image information in the image memory means) corresponds to the operation of temporarily storing image information supplied from the outside in the image memory means. Become. In the above embodiment, the access to the FAT is described. However, the access to the management information area including the FAT and the header is performed.

[0015]

As described above, in the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention, since the writing of image data and the access to the management information area of the recording medium are performed in parallel, the recording processing time is significantly reduced. Thus, an increase in image recording speed is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of an image information recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart of a recording operation in the first embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart of a recording operation in an image information recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of a recording operation in a third embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart of a recording operation in a conventional image information recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 optical system 2 imaging system 3 clamp circuit 4 A / D
Conversion circuit 5 Memory control circuit 6 Frame memory 7 DCT
/ IDCT circuit 8 Coder / decoder circuit 9 Auxiliary memory 10 IC memory card 11 Digital process circuit 12 D / A
Conversion circuit 13 Driver 14 EVF 15 External output terminal 16 Character generator 17 Display unit 18 Operation unit 19 System controller

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/225 G06T 1/60 H04N 5/907 G06F 12/00 514 G06F 12/00 520

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] The present invention relates to a method for storing image information generated by photographing or supplied from the outside in an image memory means.
A predetermined information compression process is performed on the applied information recording medium, and a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each piece of image information and an area of image data representing the image information is used. An image information recording device configured to store each image information file, wherein an operation of storing the image information in the image memory means and an access to a management information area of the applied information recording medium are performed in parallel. An image information recording apparatus, comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein image information generated by photographing or supplied from outside is temporarily stored in an image memory means.
A predetermined information compression process is performed on the applied information recording medium, and a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each piece of image information and an area of image data representing the image information is used. An image information recording apparatus configured to store as image information files, wherein at least in a continuous recording operation mode, sequentially supplied recorded image information is sequentially stored in an image data area of the information recording medium to which the above-described applied information recording medium is applied. An image information recording apparatus comprising means for storing management information relating to the recorded image information in a management information area of the medium after the recording.