JP3597528B2 - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera, and more particularly, to an electronic camera having a function of transmitting or receiving image data.

  For example, in order to transmit data such as an image obtained by an IC card camera to a separate device such as an IC card camera via a normal communication line or cable, as shown in FIG. The image data from the card 101 is transmitted to the individually prepared transmitter 200, and the data subjected to the predetermined transmission processing is transmitted to the communication line via the modem 300. The modem 400 on the receiving side sends the image data received via the communication line to the receiver 500, and the output data from the receiver 500 is reproduced by the reproducer 600, and the reproduced image data is displayed on the monitor 700.

  In a conventional electronic camera having a function of transmitting and receiving image data, convenience at the time of transmission or reception has not been considered at all, including security.

  Provide an electronic camera that is excellent in convenience and security when transmitting or receiving.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an electronic camera according to the present invention includes an imaging unit that photoelectrically converts a subject image formed by a lens to obtain image data, and records the image data obtained by the imaging unit on a recording medium. A communication line mode for transmitting or receiving image data between the recording means and another corresponding electronic camera via a communication line, and a communication line mode for directly transmitting image data between the other corresponding electronic cameras without using a communication line. and a camera between the communication mode for transmission or reception, and possible mode switching means switching these modes, when performing transmission of the image data via the communication line, transmitted prior to the transmission of the image data partner Communication control means for transmitting the telephone number and the password to the modem means .
Here, the transmission of the password is performed only in the communication line mode, not in the camera-to-camera communication mode, and the password and the telephone number are not transmitted in the camera-to-camera communication mode. Can be.

  According to the present invention, security concerning image data to be transmitted can be ensured.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention, which is an example of application to an IC card camera (electronic camera).

  In FIG. 1, a subject image formed on a CCD 2 via a lens 1 is converted into an electric signal, and then subjected to a predetermined process such as γ correction in an imaging process circuit 3 to obtain an A / D converter (ADC). In step 4, it is converted to a digital signal.

  The selector 5 sets a path for recording digital image data from the A / D converter 4 in the RAM 6 during recording. The block data read from the RAM 6 (data on each divided block when one screen is divided into a plurality of blocks) is supplied to the compression / decompression unit 8 via the selector 7. The DCT / IDCT circuit 81 of the compression / decompression unit 8 is a discrete cosine transform / inverse discrete cosine transform circuit, and performs an orthogonal transform process on the block data. The transform coefficients obtained by the orthogonal transform are quantized by the quantization / dequantization circuit 82 and then encoded by the encoding / decoding circuit 83.

  Processing such as encoding in the compression / decompression unit 8 is controlled by the encoding control circuit 13 based on an instruction from the system control circuit 12. That is, based on the contrast information for each divided area, the system control circuit 12 selects and sets an appropriate Q table for the divided area as described above, and compresses / decompresses it via the encoding control circuit 13. The compression processing in the unit 8 is controlled.

  The image data compressed and encoded by the compression / decompression unit 8 is supplied to the card interface (I / F) 10 via the selector 9 and recorded on the IC card 11.

  The system control circuit 12 controls operations of the RAM 6, the selectors 7 and 9, the compression / decompression unit 8 via the encoding control circuit 13, the card interface circuit 10, and the communication control circuit 20. In response, various controls of the entire camera are performed.

  At the time of reproduction, the digital image data switched by the selector 5 is subjected to predetermined reproduction processing by a reproduction processing unit 15, converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter 16, and then converted to an EVF (electronic viewfinder) 17 and a monitor. Is output to the output terminal on the side.

  The system control circuit 12 receives operation information from the operation unit 14 to which various switches such as the release switch 18 are connected, performs corresponding control, and is connected to the communication control unit 20 and communicates with the serial interface circuit 21. Perform communication control operation. The selector 9 is connected to a RAM 19 that operates as described below. A modem or a transmission partner camera is connected to the serial interface circuit 21, and a signal from a cable terminal CNT for detecting a cable attachment state at that time and switching modes is supplied to the system control circuit 12. .

  1, in the data transmission mode for transmitting data, the selector 9 is connected to the RAM 19, and data read from the IC card 11 via the card interface 10 is sent to the selector 9. The image data read via the selector 9 is written to the RAM 19, expanded by the compression / expansion unit 8, and written to the RAM 6 via the selector 7. The image data read from the RAM 6 passes through the selector 5, is subjected to the above-described reproduction processing by the reproduction processing unit 15, is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 16, is monitored and output to the EVF 17, and is transmitted therefrom. Enables confirmation of video content.

  When the transmission instruction signal is sent to the system control circuit 12 via the operation unit 14 after confirming the transmission video content on the monitor, the microcomputer of the system control circuit 12 dials the telephone number of the other party through a modem (not shown). Then, after confirming that the other party has responded, the control data and the image data are transmitted. The image data is read from the RAM 19 and sent to the other party via the selector 9 and the system control circuit 12.

  The modem on the other end (reception side) receives the transmitted image data and sends it to the serial interface circuit 21 '(not shown) having the same configuration as that on the transmission side. The image data from the serial interface circuit 21 'is stored in a mating RAM 19' (not shown) corresponding to the RAM 19 through a microcomputer of the system control circuit 12 '(not shown), and the compression / decompression unit 8 ( (Not shown) to be decompressed and stored in a RAM 6 '(not shown) corresponding to the RAM 6. The image data read from the RAM 6 'is sent to an EVF 17' (not shown) via a reproduction processing unit 15 '(not shown) and a D / A converter 16' (not shown), and is sent to the other party. Monitor display. The other party confirms the monitor display, and if there is a defect or error in the display contents, sends a retransmission request signal to the transmission side to request retransmission of the same image data.

  With the above-described configuration, the receiving side can check the content of the received image data on the monitor, thereby enabling reliable image transmission. When the contents of the received image are confirmed on the monitor, the image data stored in the RAM 19 'is read out by operating the switch of the operation unit 14, and based on the operation of the microcomputer, the IC card 11 is transmitted via the card interface circuit 10'. '.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram in which the transmitting camera and the receiving camera are connected by a modem and a public line.

  The camera 30 includes a microcomputer (CPU) 310 corresponding to the system control circuit 12, a RAM 320 for temporarily storing image data (corresponding to the RAM 19 in FIG. 1), an IC card 330 (corresponding to the IC card 11 in FIG. 1), Similarly, the camera 40 includes a CPU 410, a RAM 420, an IC card 430, and a serial interface circuit 440. Either of the cameras 30 and 40 is on the transmitting side and the other is on the receiving side, and both cameras are connected via a public line via modems 50 and 60. In a transmission mode via a public line using such a modem (hereinafter, referred to as a modem mode), a control code such as a telephone number of a partner, a password, communication start, actual (compressed) image data, and attribute data are transmitted to the modem. Is sent. In addition, when a modem is used, communication may be suspended depending on the line status, and control for stopping data transmission using RTS (data request signal), CTS (data transmission signal), or the like is also required. Therefore, the data transmission rate has an upper limit, and is usually set to about 1,200 to 2,400 bps.

  FIG. 3 is a connection configuration diagram of a camera-to-camera transmission mode (hereinafter, referred to as a camera-to-camera mode) in which transmission is performed directly between cameras without using a modem or a public line, and the serial interface 340 of the cameras 30 and 40 is connected via a cable. And 440 are connected. In this mode, unlike the above-mentioned modem mode, the situation of the other party is fixed, so that high-speed data transfer is possible. In addition, since transmission of telephone numbers and the like is not required, it is possible to increase the transfer rate and switch to high-speed transmission processing without using RTS, CTS, etc., and the transmission speed is substantially 9,600 to 19,200 bps. Settings can be made.

  Switching between the modem mode and the camera-to-camera mode can be performed by determining the level of the CNT terminal among the line terminals in the cable to which the camera is connected. For example, FIG. 4 shows a connection relationship between terminals in a cable connecting a camera and a modem. In this case, the reception data RD terminal, the transmission data SD terminal, the data request signal RTS terminal, the data transmission signal CTS terminal, and the ground GND terminal are connected by a line, and the modem side corresponding to each camera side terminal is connected. Data is transmitted from the corresponding terminal to the line. At this time, a + power supply (for example, +5 V) is connected to the CNT terminal, and the camera detects this + power supply voltage and “H” level, and determines that it is in the modem mode state. On the other hand, in the camera-to-camera mode, the RD terminal and the SD terminal of the transmission camera of the cable are connected to the SD terminal and the RD terminal of the other camera, respectively, and the CNT terminal of each camera is connected to the GND terminal. . Therefore, on the camera side, by detecting the ground level and the “L” level of the CNT terminal, it is determined that the camera is in the camera-to-camera mode.

  With reference to FIG. 1, the transmitting side function and the receiving side function of the camera in the present embodiment will be described.

  First, in the transmitting side function, image information that has been converted / compressed and recorded at the selected address of the recording medium (IC card) 11 loaded in the camera is read and loaded into the RAM 19. The information once loaded in the RAM 19 is held until the next information is loaded or reset. Next, the image information loaded in the RAM 19 is subjected to decompression / inverse conversion processing and loaded in the RAM 6. The image data read from the RAM 6 is supplied to the EVF 17 via the reproduction processing unit 15 and the D / A converter 16 to enable monitoring. By this monitoring, the operator can determine whether the information read from the medium and held in the RAM 19 is to be transmitted. Here, it is determined that the monitored information is to be transmitted, and when the operator performs a “transmit” switch operation, the image information stored in the RAM 19 is read out in response to this operation, and converted.・ Send to the line in the compressed form. Instead of loading the information read from the IC card 11 into the RAM 19, if the video data obtained by shooting with the camera is converted and compressed and loaded directly into the RAM 19 without passing through the IC card 11, It can also be sent to the line as described above.

  Next, in the receiving-side function, the information received from the line is loaded into the RAM 19 in the form of being converted and compressed. The information once loaded in the RAM 19 is held until the next information is loaded or reset. Then, the image information loaded in the RAM 19 is subjected to decompression / inverse conversion processing by the compression / decompression unit 8 and is loaded into the RAM 6. The image data read from the RAM 6 is D / A converted in the same manner as described above, and is supplied to the EVF 17 to enable monitoring. By this monitoring, the operator can determine on which medium the information received from the line and temporarily stored in the RAM 19 should be recorded. It is determined on which medium the monitored information is to be recorded, and when the operator loads the medium into the camera and performs a “record” switch operation, the RAM 19 is stored in the RAM 19 in response to this operation. The stored image information is read out and stored in a converted and compressed form at the selected address of the loaded medium.

  Hereinafter, the operation processing procedure of the camera according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 6, when the power is turned on, first, it is determined whether the mode is the recording mode or the reproducing mode (step S1). If the mode is the reproducing mode, it is determined whether or not the connection cable is attached (step S3). When the cable is attached, the operation enters the reception mode (step S4), and when the cable is not attached, the operation enters the reproduction mode (step S5). If it is determined in step S1 that the current mode is the recording mode, it is determined whether or not the connection cable is attached (step S2). When the cable is attached, the transmission mode operation is performed (step S7). When the cable is not attached, the operation is started as a normal recording mode operation (step S6).

  When entering the transmission mode operation (step S7), as shown in FIG. 7, an image to be transmitted is selected (step S8). This image selection is performed by operating the “+” key or the “−” key of the operation unit 14. Next, the selected image data is read from the IC card 11 (step S9), and is transferred and stored in the RAM 19 (step S10). Subsequently, the image data read from the RAM 19 is subjected to data expansion processing by the compression / expansion unit 8 and stored in the RAM 6 (step S11). The image data read from the RAM 6 is output to the monitor (EVF) 17 (step S12), and the operator checks the image content with this monitor image (step S13). The data transmission mode operation is started by the operation of step 18 (step S14).

  When entering the data transmission mode, the mode is confirmed as shown in FIG. 8 (step S15). This confirmation is performed by detecting whether or not the level of the CNT terminal of the cable is "H" (step S16). If it is "H", it enters the modem transmission mode operation (step S17), and if it is not "H", it enters the camera transmission mode operation (step S27).

  As shown in FIG. 9, when entering the modem transmission mode, it is first determined whether or not the modem is in the standby OK state (step S18). When the modem is in the standby OK state, the telephone number of the transmission destination is reached. Is dialed (step S19), and the presence or absence of a response is determined (step S20). If there is no response, it means that the line is not connected because the other party is busy or the like, so that the timer is operated for one minute (step S21), and the redial operation is performed by the other party's dial operation in step S19. In step S20, when there is a response, the password is transmitted (step S22), and it is determined whether or not the password is OK (step S23). If the password is OK, the data is transmitted one byte at a time (step S24), the end of reception is determined (step S25), and the end of data is determined (step S26). If not, the process returns to step S24. .

  On the other hand, when entering the camera transmission mode of step S27 in FIG. 8, it is determined whether or not the connection state of the destination camera is OK as shown in FIG. 10 (step S28). The data is transmitted byte by byte (step S29), and it is determined whether or not the data is completed (step S30). If the data has not been completed, the process returns to the data transmission process of step S29.

  When the receiving mode operation (step S4) shown in FIG. 6 is started, as shown in FIG. 11, the image data sent from the transmitting side is received, transferred and stored in the RAM 19 (step S41). Next, the image data read from the RAM 19 is subjected to decompression processing by the compression / decompression unit and stored in the RAM 6 (step S42). The image data read from the RAM 6 is monitored and output to the EVF 17 in the same manner as described above (step S43). After the operator confirms the monitor image (step S44), it is determined whether the IC card insertion / extraction mode is “ON” (step S45). If “ON”, the IC card is inserted (step S46). ). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the release switch 18 for writing image data is "ON" (step S47). When the release switch 18 is turned "ON", the image data read from the RAM 19 is recorded on the IC card 11 ( Step S48), the process ends.

  In this embodiment, the IC card camera itself has a simple transmission function, the transmission function is enabled by connecting two cameras via a modem, and the camera is directly connected to each other without a modem. Processing such as copying and dubbing of an IC card is also enabled. At this time, a modem function can be built in. A buffer RAM for storing compressed data is provided, and a modem and communication control software are operated by a communication control circuit. By providing the buffer RAM, data can be received even when an IC card is not mounted, and a compressed image can be instantaneously expanded to obtain a reproduced image. The communication control circuit outputs a serial interface signal from the microcomputer, converts the signal to an RS232C level serial interface, which is a communication means for controlling a standard modem, and transmits the telephone number, password, and data of the other party to the modem. It enables control of transmission and reception.

  The apparatus according to the present embodiment described above has a memory (RAM 19) other than the frame memory (RAM 6) to enable reception of image data even when an IC card is not inserted. After the confirmation, the image data can be stored in an IC card suitable for the type of image. Therefore, there is no need to separately copy to another IC card after image data transfer, and operability is improved. Actually, the transmission / reception operation is enabled even when the IC card is not inserted, and the signal line is controlled so that the card can be inserted and removed when there is data in the memory as a camera. By pressing the card insertion / removal switch, the power supply to the IC card is turned off while the operation state of the main body remains unchanged, and the connected signal is set to high impedance. Remove the card after making sure there is no such inconvenience. Conversely, the same applies when inserting a card. When the operation switch is pressed after the insertion, the power and signals are applied to the card for the first time in a prescribed order, so that the data for the IC card can be applied. Can be prevented from being destroyed at the moment of card insertion and removal. Furthermore, copying between cards (in units of one screen) becomes possible.

  Although the above-described embodiment describes an example of application to an IC card camera, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to an apparatus for transmitting, receiving, recording, and reproducing images other than an electronic still camera.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention, showing an application example to an electronic still camera. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a camera connected via a modem and a public line in an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention, in which cameras are directly connected via a cable. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing connection between cable terminals of a modem mode in the embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing connection between cable terminals in a camera-to-camera mode in the embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure in the embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure in a transmission mode in an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure of a data transmission mode in the embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure of a modem transmission mode in the embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure of a camera transmission mode in an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation processing procedure in a receiving mode in the embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus with built-in communication means according to the present invention. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram for transmitting and receiving image data between conventional IC card cameras.

Explanation of reference numerals

1 lens 2 CCD
3 imaging process circuit 4 A / D converter 5, 7, 9 selector switch 6, 19 RAM
Reference Signs List 8 compression / expansion unit 10 card interface circuit 11 IC card memory 12 system control circuit 13 encoding control circuit 14 operation unit 15 reproduction process circuit 16 D / A converter 17 EVF
18 Release switch 20 Communication control circuit 21 Serial interface circuit

Claims (3)

Imaging means for photoelectrically converting a subject image formed by a lens to obtain image data; recording means for recording image data obtained by the imaging means on a recording medium;
A communication line mode for transmitting or receiving image data to / from another applicable electronic camera via a communication line, and transmitting / receiving image data to / from another applicable electronic camera directly without using a communication line. A camera-to-camera communication mode to be performed, and a mode switching unit capable of switching between these modes;
When transmitting the image data via a communication line, communication control means for transmitting a telephone number and a password of a transmission destination to a modem means prior to transmission of the image data,
An electronic camera comprising: 2. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the transmission of the password is performed only in the communication line mode, and is not performed in the camera-to-camera communication mode. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the password and the telephone number are not transmitted in the camera-to-camera communication mode.

Images