JP3795046B2 - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera, and more particularly to an electronic camera that is data compatible with a computer.

  Unlike a silver halide camera, an electronic camera is characterized by the fact that there is no need for development and that a recorded image can be reproduced immediately. If the capacity of the recording medium on which the image signal is recorded increases, the recorded image is necessarily recorded. The number of recordings also increases. In addition, it is extremely effective to expand the use form of an image created by an electronic camera by taking captured image data in a reproduction device such as a personal computer and reproducing or organizing it. At that time, it is very convenient to record the images recorded from the beginning separately for each directory in the electronic camera. Then, it has become necessary to reproduce and edit images recorded on the recording medium separately for each directory.

  In that case, for example, if the image files are collected in a single directory to form a single set, reconfirmation after editing is facilitated. However, image files recorded separately in sub-directories will not be overwritten even if they have the same file name if they belong to different sub-directories, but they should exist under the same directory. In such a case, one image file may be overwritten and erased. In order to prevent this, the file name must be rewritten each time before moving the image file. However, there are few operation parts such as an electronic camera compared to a personal computer, etc., and operations are limited. Therefore, it is desired that it can be executed with a simpler operation. In addition, since the recording medium can be attached to and detached from a personal computer or multiple electronic cameras, in addition to the image data that can be played back by the electronic camera, the playback function that the electronic camera originally has cannot support, such as image data that cannot be played back. In some cases, it may be necessary to perform reproduction processing on a medium on which recording has already been performed with an electronic camera. In that case, it is necessary to have a simple function of checking whether or not the electronic camera itself can be played back. The object of the present invention is to solve such problems.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an electronic camera according to the present invention provides:
Imaging means for imaging a subject;
Imaging circuit means for performing a predetermined imaging process on an electrical signal obtained by converting the subject image captured by the imaging means;
The image signal subjected to the imaging process by the imaging circuit means is recorded as an image file in a subdirectory in which the self name set in the recording medium includes a fixed part and a serial number part, and the recording A recording control means for automatically creating a file name of an image file to be recorded on a medium as its upper multiple digits as alphabets and lower lower digits as numeric character strings, and giving an extension;
Means for determining whether the image file can be reproduced by the electronic camera based on the extension of the recorded file of the recording medium;
Means for determining whether or not the recorded file of the recording medium can be reproduced by the electronic camera based on the header information of the file;
Means for changing at least the serial number portion of the image file name when moving the image file recorded in the subdirectory to another single subdirectory;
It is configured with.

  According to the electronic camera of the present invention, image files having different contents and the same file name are prevented from being lost due to overwriting, and an image file reproducing method using a normal electronic camera is provided. Necessary image files can be organized without loss.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an application example to a digital still camera which is an embodiment of an image recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. In the camera housing 100, a lens 101, a trigger switch 102 for instructing photographing, a display panel 103 including an LCD, an operation switch 104 for instructing operation, an insertion slot 105 into which a memory card 106 is inserted and mounted, a photographing A video signal output terminal 107 for outputting the received video signal and an external interface (I / F) 108 for exchanging data with an external device are provided.

  As shown in the plan view of FIG. 2, the operation switch 104 includes a power switch 104A for controlling ON / OFF of the camera power supply, a recording / playback switch 104B for switching a recording / playback mode, a directory switch 104C for operating a directory, An UP switch 104D and a DOWN switch 104E for selecting a playback frame (which may be used for directory operations) and a mode switch 104F for setting a mode such as a continuous shooting mode are provided.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the display panel 103 includes a display unit 103A that displays modes such as playback, continuous shooting, and directory, a display unit 103B that displays frame numbers and directory numbers, and a display that displays the number of recordable and reproducible images. Part 103C.

  FIG. 4 is a configuration block diagram of a digital still camera as an example of the present embodiment. A subject is input to an image pickup circuit 2 having an image pickup device such as a CCD as a photoelectric conversion means via a lens 1 and having a circuit for performing a predetermined image pickup process on the converted electric signal. The video signal from the imaging circuit 2 is converted into digital data by the A / D converter 3 and written into the frame memory 4. Video data read from the frame memory 4 is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 5, encoded by the video encoder 6, and then supplied to the external terminal 7 and the electronic viewfinder 8.

  At the time of data recording, the video data read from the frame memory 4 is compressed by the compression / decompression circuit 10 using a compression method compliant with the JPEG method or the like, and the memory card is connected via the card interface (I / F) 11. 16 is recorded. At the time of reproduction, video data read from the memory card 16 via the card interface (I / F) 11 is decompressed by the compression / decompression circuit 10 and written to the frame memory 4. The video data read from the frame memory 4 is output to the external terminal 7 and the electronic viewfinder 8 through the processing of the D / A converter 5 and the video encoder 6.

The system control circuit 12 controls the entire camera operation. For example, display of the display unit 13 (corresponding to 103 in FIG. 1) is controlled, and camera operation is controlled based on operation information from the operation switch 14 (corresponding to 104 in FIG. 1). The system control circuit 12 also superimposes character information on the video signal via the character generator 9 and further controls communication with the outside via the external interface (I / F) 15.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of data arrangement in the memory card. File data recording in which parameter data of management information is recorded in the boot sector, which is the head area, a table indicating the memory usage status is recorded in the FAT, and subsequently, image files and the like constituting the file data area are recorded The area is arranged. Image files and audio files are composed of a header and an image data area. This image data is data in a format compliant with JPEG. In the file data area, in addition to image files, files that cannot be handled by the image recording / playback apparatus, such as text files, subdirectories, and the like are recorded.

  The directory structure is shown in FIG. FIG. 4A shows the structure of the root directory, which is composed of a set of entries having the number of entries recorded in the boot sector, and each of entries 0, entry 1, entry 2, entry 3,. Corresponds to the frame number. As shown in FIG. 5B, the subdirectory includes a current directory “.”, A parent directory “..”, an entry 2 corresponding to frame numbers 1 and 2, and entries 3,.

  A format example of the directory entry is shown in FIG. 7, and the name, attribute, (reservation), time, date, start cluster, file size, and the like are designated. In this example, the file is displayed with a frame number, but the file name is automatically created by the system control circuit in a combination of a fixed pattern and a serial number. In the creation procedure, the upper 5 digits of the file name are determined by a function that generates alphabetic and numeric character strings, the files in the current directory are checked for upper 5 digits, and if there are duplicates, they are incremented. The upper 5 digits may be determined by operation. A serial number is used for the lower three digits. The extension is J6I. A frame number may be adopted for the serial number portion.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the FAT is composed of 12-bit or 16-bit divided areas, and entries 0 and 1 are reserved, and entries 2, 3 and 4 correspond to clusters 2, 3 and 4 of the file data area. Yes. In the cluster used for recording the file, non-zero data is written in the FAT entry, and data of a chain structure is written to represent the connection of one file.

  The image file has a structure as shown in FIG. 9, and includes a file header portion in which the standard ID for the image file structure of the camera, parameters of the image data, etc. are written, recording compressed data of the image data such as the JPEG standard, etc. An image data portion.

  FIG. 10 shows a display example during the recording operation. This display can be similarly performed on the display unit 103 and the video screen. Immediately after the power is turned on, for example, the current directory is displayed for 5 seconds as shown in FIG. 5A, and then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the frame number “3” and the recordable number “ 13 "is displayed. As shown in FIG. 11, the directory number can be numbered in the order of the tree walk with the root directory set to “0”.

  In the display unit, the root directory and subdirectories can be displayed in a tree structure using the character generator 9, and the file names can be displayed in alphabets.

  FIG. 12 shows a similar display example during the reproduction operation. Immediately after the power is turned on, the current directory “0” is displayed for 5 seconds as shown in FIG. 5A, and then the playback frame number “1” is played back as shown in FIG. The possible number “6” is displayed. Here, as a file that can be played back by the camera, it is a condition that the contents of the standard ID of the recording file header with the extension “J6I” of the file name can be processed by the camera.

  10 and 12, the current directory can be displayed for 5 seconds at any time by pressing the directory switch 104C.

  FIG. 13 shows a display example when the recording medium area is insufficient. Insufficient area is a state in which the number of entries that can be registered is smaller than that of the file data area. If the number of entries is insufficient at the time of recording, the “directory” display segment blinks when the current directory is displayed. At this time, since the recording medium cannot be used effectively, the fact can be displayed on the display screen by the character generator 9 to notify the operator.

  If the operator presses the trigger switch 102 while pressing the directory switch 104C when there are insufficient entries, a subdirectory is created and the current directory is moved to the created subdirectory. Create subdirectory names with fixed patterns and sequential numbers. A display example at the time of creating such a directory is shown in FIG. In this display, the directory number blinks. The above-mentioned display can be performed more easily using the character generator 9, for example, the display of the file name of the created subdirectory or the tree display of the directory hierarchy.

  In the above example, the current directory is moved to the newly created subdirectory. However, without moving the directory, an extra, for example, text data file other than the image file is moved to the newly created subdirectory for organization. The file data area can be used effectively. In this way, even in an image recording / playback apparatus that can handle only the root directory, the data area can be effectively utilized if an image file is left in the root directory.

  Alternatively, a subdirectory may be created and the image files in all subdirectories in the memory card may be moved to the subdirectory. In other words, data that is difficult to access by being divided into several subdirectories can be organized into one directory. At this time, file name duplication may occur, so file name automatic change processing is required. In the case of an image file, the name can be changed by incrementing the serial number portion.

  The movement process between directories of files is performed by moving 32-byte data registered in the directory entry for each file. This process can be performed easily and at high speed by the system controller 12.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the operation processing procedure of the above-described example. When the camera power is turned on and the power-on process is performed (step S101), a current directory described later is set (step S102), and the directory display is performed for 5 seconds (step S103). Next, it is determined whether the recording / reproducing switch is set to the recording mode or the reproducing mode (step S104), and if it is the recording mode, the number of recordable sheets to be described later is counted (step S105), and the number of entries is insufficient. It is determined whether it is in a state (step S106). If it is determined that the number of entries is insufficient, a warning is given to the effect that the number of entries is insufficient (step S107). If the number of entries is not insufficient, the number of recordable sheets is displayed as it is (step S108). The recording process is started.

  If it is determined in step S104 that the playback mode is set, the number of reproducible images described later is counted (step S109), and the number of reproducible images is displayed (step S110).

  The current directory setting processing procedure is shown in FIG. First, a control file “.CTL” file is searched from the root directory (step S201), and the presence or absence of the control file is determined (step S202). An example of the control file is shown in FIG. In step S202, if it is determined that there is a character string “current:” in the file (step S203), the presence or absence of the character string is determined (step S204). A directory is searched (step S205), and the presence or absence is determined (step S206). If it is determined that the specified directory exists, the designated directory is set as the current directory (step S207), the directory number is assigned (step S209), and the process is terminated.

  If it is determined in step S202, 204, or 206 that there is none, the root directory is set as the current directory (step S208), and the processing in step S209 is performed.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for counting the number of recordable sheets. The required number of clusters is calculated from the size of the image file, and the recordable number A is calculated from the FAT (step S301). Next, the number B of unregistered directories in the FAT is searched (step S302). This process counts entries where the head of the current directory is “0” (unused) or “0ESH” (erasured once used). This is considered when the number of directories that can be handled by the system control circuit is smaller than the actual directory. Subsequently, the smaller of A and B is set as the recordable number of sheets (step S303).

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the reproducible sheet count processing in the embodiment of the present invention. First, “0” is set in the counter (step S401), the top entry of the current directory is read (step S402), and it is determined whether or not the top is “0” (unrecorded) (step S403). If “0”, the process ends. If it is not “0”, it is determined whether or not the head is “0E5H” (once recorded and erased) (step S404). It is determined whether or not “J6I” (step S405). If the extension is “J6I”, it is determined whether or not the file header is OK (camera processing is possible) (step S406). If the extension is OK, the file is reproducible and the counter is incremented (step S407). ), The end of entry is determined (step S408). If the entry ends in step S408, the process ends.

  When the head is “0E5H” in step S404, the extension is not “J6I” in step S405, the file header is not OK in step S406, or the entry is not completed in step S408, the next entry is read. (Step S409), the process proceeds to Step S403.

  The directory creation processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG. This process is performed when the directory switch and the trigger switch are pressed simultaneously in the recording mode. First, it is determined whether or not recording is possible (step S501). If it is not possible, the process is terminated, and if possible, a subdirectory is created (step S502). Here, the names of the subdirectories are determined so as not to overlap in the same directory. Next, it is determined whether or not there is a control file (step S503). If there is no control file, a control file is created and the current directory is registered (step S504). If there is a control file, the current directory of the control file is changed. (Step S505), the current directory is changed to the subdirectory that has just been created (Step S506), the number of recordable sheets is counted (Step S507), and the process proceeds to the recording process.

  As described above, the above processing may be created consciously by the operator or automatically when the directory entry is insufficient. When handling files are mixed, directories / subdirectories can be automatically created and organized into subdirectories.

  Next, the directory move processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG. The directory up process is started by operating the directory up switch 104D. First, the next directory is searched by the tree walk (step S601), and the presence / absence of the control file is determined (step S602). Create and register the current directory (step S603), and if there is a control file, change the current directory of the control file (step S604), change the current directory (step S605), and display the directory (step S606). ). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the recording mode is set (step S607). If the recording mode is set, the number of recordable sheets is counted (step S607), and the process proceeds to a recording process. If the playback mode is set in step S607, the number of playable sheets is counted (step S609), and the process proceeds to the playback process.

  On the other hand, when the directory down switch 104E is operated, the directory down process starts, and after searching the previous directory by the tree walk (step S610), the process proceeds to the process of step S602 described above.

  FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for grouping related image data. For example, this processing is effective when grouping processing is performed on image files that are related to each other, such as continuous shooting or theme-specific shooting with the trigger switch turned on. FIG. 22 shows a grouping process of image files obtained by continuous shooting as an example. When continuous shooting is set, the fact that continuous shooting is set is displayed as shown in FIG. 23 (step S701), and a subdirectory is created. (Step S702), the current directory is moved to the created subdirectory (Step S703), and the subdirectory is displayed (Step S704).

  Next, after waiting for a trigger input for instructing recording (step S705), a shooting process for recording the shot image data in a file format on the medium is performed (step S706), and it is determined whether or not recording is possible (step S707). Here, if recording is possible, it is determined whether or not a trigger is input, and if it is input, the process returns to step S706, and if there is no trigger input, the process returns to the upper directory (step S709). The process is terminated. If it is determined in step S707 that recording is impossible, the process directly returns to step S709.

As described above, in this process, the grouping mode is set by pressing the mode switch, and the image data obtained by shooting is placed in the created subdirectory, and the upper directory is entered by pressing the playback mode switch. The functions presented by the present invention are summarized as follows.
(1) The recordable number display part and the reproducible number display part are used together, and the recordable number is displayed during recording, and the reproducible number is displayed during reproduction.
(2) When counting the number of reproducible sheets, the file name and file format are determined, and reproducible files are counted.
(3) When determining the number of recordable sheets, there is provided means for setting the smaller one of the value calculated from FAT (memory capacity) and the number of directory entries that can be newly registered.
(4) A means for warning when there is a shortage of entries is provided.
(5) A means for creating a subdirectory for separating and organizing files that can be handled by the camera and files that cannot be handled is provided.
(6) When the number of unrecorded entries in the root directory is smaller than the recordable number calculated from the FAT (memory capacity) in the memory card, means for creating a subdirectory for organizing in (4) is provided.
(7) When a file that can be handled by the camera and a file that cannot be handled are mixed in the same directory in the memory card, a means for creating a directory for organizing in (4) is provided.
(8) A means for moving a file that cannot be handled by the camera is provided in a subdirectory for file organization.
(9) A means for collecting image files (files that can be handled by the camera) is provided in a subdirectory for file organization.
(10) A means for registering the directory of the image file (camera handleable file) in the control file and accessing the subdirectory according to the control file is provided.
(11) When creating file names and subdirectory names, a means for generating names is provided so that no duplication occurs.
(12) A means for automatically or manually creating a subdirectory at the time of grouping is provided.

1 is a perspective view of an example of application to a digital still camera, showing an embodiment of an image recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a top view which shows the structure of the operation switch 104 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display panel 103 of FIG. It is a block diagram of the configuration of a digital still camera as an example of the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of data arrangement | positioning in a memory card. It is a figure which shows a directory structure. It is a figure which shows the example of a format of a directory entry. It is a figure which shows the structure of FAT. It is a figure which shows the structure of an image file. It is a figure which shows the example of a display at the time of recording operation. It is a figure which shows the other example of a display of FIG. 10, and shows the example which numbers a directory number in order of a tree walk. It is a figure which shows the example of a display similar to FIG. 10 at the time of reproduction | regeneration operation | movement. It is a figure which shows the example of a display at the time of the area shortage of a recording medium. It is a figure which shows the example of a display at the time of the creation of a directory. It is a flowchart which shows the operation processing procedure of the above-mentioned example. It is a flowchart which shows the setting process procedure of a current directory. It is a figure which shows the example of the control file in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of count processing of the recordable number of sheets. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the reproducible number count process in the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows a directory creation process procedure. It is a flowchart which shows a directory movement process procedure. It is a flowchart which shows the grouping process sequence of the image file obtained by the continuous shooting. It is a figure which shows the example which displays that it is continuous shooting.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lens 2 Imaging circuit 3 A / D converter 4 Frame memory 5 D / A converter 6 Video encoder 7 External terminal 8 Viewfinder 9 Compression / decompression circuit 10 System control circuit 11 Display / switch control circuit 12 Display circuit 13 Operation switch 14 Character Generator 15 RS interface 16 Card interface 17, 106 Memory card 18 Power supply 19 Audio circuit 20 Speaker 21 Microphone 100 Camera housing 101 Lens 102 Trigger switch 103 Display panel 104 Operation switch 105 Slot 107 Video signal output terminal 108 External interface

Claims (1)

Imaging means for imaging a subject;
Imaging circuit means for performing a predetermined imaging process on an electrical signal obtained by converting the subject image captured by the imaging means;
The image signal subjected to the imaging process by the imaging circuit means is recorded as an image file in a subdirectory in which the self name set in the recording medium includes a fixed part and a serial number part, and the recording A recording control means for automatically creating a file name of an image file to be recorded on a medium as a plurality of upper digits of the alphabet and a lower plurality of digits as a character string of numbers, and adding an extension;
Means for determining whether the image file can be reproduced by the electronic camera based on the extension of the recorded file of the recording medium;
Means for determining whether or not the recorded file of the recording medium can be reproduced by the electronic camera based on the header information of the file;
Means for changing at least the serial number portion of the image file name when moving the image file recorded in the subdirectory to another single subdirectory;
An electronic camera characterized by comprising:

Images