JP3359525B2 - Digital electronic camera - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital electronic camera, and more particularly, to a digital electronic camera having a function as a portable telephone or a PHS.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, digital electronic cameras for recording a photographed image on a semiconductor memory device have been marketed by various companies, and these digital electronic cameras have attracted attention because the recorded image can be easily taken into a personal computer. In recent years, mobile phones and PHS have rapidly spread, and PHS is particularly expected as a multimedia tool capable of high-speed data communication in addition to the purpose of communication. In fact, devices in which a mobile phone or a PHS is integrated with a digital electronic camera have been proposed in various forms.

Here, a general operation method of the above-mentioned digital electronic camera having the functions of a portable telephone and a PHS is to select one or a plurality of images to be transmitted in accordance with the shooting conditions of the images, and to select a switch. Perform the operation for transmission according to the type, and start transmission.

[0004]

In such a case, the time required for transmission greatly differs depending on the number of images to be transmitted and the compression ratio of each image. Further, transmitting an image is an operation that is not very common in conventional portable electronic devices.

[0005] By the way, there is a problem that the user does not know whether or not the transmission is normally performed and how far the transmission has been performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital electronic camera having a function as a portable telephone or a PHS and having a display means for visually confirming the progress of communication sequentially.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image pickup means for converting a subject image into an electric signal by a solid-state image pickup device, and processing the electric signal and storing it as image information in a storage medium. A communication circuit that performs data communication, a codec circuit that encodes and decodes various types of information, and a communication progress degree based on the time elapsed since the start of communication with respect to the total data amount or the amount of data communicated. And a display means for visually confirming each other sequentially.

[0008] According to the above configuration, in the digital electronic camera having the function of the mobile phone or the PHS, the transmission is normally performed by the user based on the time elapsed since the start of the transmission or the amount of the transmitted image data. Or the progress of transmission can be checked on the monitor.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a digital electronic camera according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a digital electronic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration in the embodiment of FIG.

In the figure, 1 is a lens, 2 is an image pickup device such as a CCD, 3 is a signal processing circuit for creating image information, 4 is an image memory for storing at least one image information, 5
Is a compression / expansion circuit for compressing and expanding image information, 6 is a microcomputer for system management, 7 is an operation switch operated by a user, 8 is a display circuit for displaying information on a liquid crystal monitor, 9 is image information and text information. , A microphone, 11 a speaker, 12 a codec circuit for encoding / decoding information, 13 a communication circuit for communication, 14 an antenna, and 15 a plurality of external storage media. This is an image memory for storing image information for a sheet.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the electronic camera according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a display example when an image to be transmitted is selected. This indicates that images 1, 3, and 8 have been selected. (B) is a display example of the transmission progress degree during transmission, and the NO. 3 indicates that 50% has been transmitted at present.

In the digital electronic camera of the present invention configured as described above, specific operations at the time of capturing and transmitting an image will be described below with reference to FIGS.
When taking an image, the subject formed by the lens 1 is CC
It is converted into an electric signal by the imaging device 2 such as D. The signal processing circuit 3 creates image information from the electric signal and writes the image information in the image memory 4. Here, in the shooting standby state, the image information is output to the display circuit 8. The display circuit 8 inputs image information and displays it on the liquid crystal monitor 9. The user is the LCD monitor 9
The photographing is performed while confirming the image by the display of. When photographing is performed, the image information recorded in the image memory 4 is data-compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 5 and written into the image memory 15 in the external storage medium. Image capturing is performed as described above.

At the time of image communication, of the image information recorded in the image memory 15, the image information that the user wants to communicate with is expanded by the compression / expansion circuit 5 and written into the image memory 4. The image information is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 9 via the display circuit 8. Here, the user selects an image to be transmitted, for example, according to a screen as shown in FIG. The selected image is encoded by the codec circuit 12 and data is transmitted by the communication circuit 13.

At this time, for example, based on the time elapsed since the start of transmission or the amount of transmitted data, FIG.
By performing the screen display as shown in (b), it is possible for the user to check whether the transmission is normally performed or the progress of the transmission. Image communication is performed as described above.

[0015]

As described above, the digital electronic camera having the function of the portable telephone or the PHS according to the present invention has a degree of progress based on the time elapsed since the start of transmission or the amount of transmitted image data during transmission. By displaying a bar or a numerical value indicating on the monitor, the user can confirm that the transmission is normally performed or the progress of the transmission.

Further, even during the reception of data, by displaying the degree of reception progress as shown in FIG. 3B, a digital electronic camera which is easier to use can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a digital electronic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation display state of the electronic camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 lens 2 CCD 3 signal processing circuit 4 memory 5 compression / expansion circuit 6 microcomputer 7 operation switch 8 display circuit 9 liquid crystal monitor 10 microphone 11 speaker 12 codec circuit 13 communication circuit 14 antenna 15 image memory

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image pickup means for converting a subject image into an electric signal by a solid-state image pickup device, a storage means for processing the electric signal and storing it as image information in a storage medium, a communication circuit for performing data communication, and various information And a display means for visually confirming the communication progress based on the time elapsed since the start of communication with respect to the total data amount or the amount of data communicated. Digital electronic camera featuring.