JP4206892B2 - Digital camera, digital camera control device, and digital camera control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital camera or the like that can set an image size and / or image quality in accordance with a shooting purpose. In the present invention, the term “digital camera” is used as a concept including both a “digital still camera” for still image recording and a “digital video camera” for moving image recording. Further, the “photographing purpose” means the intended use of the photographed image (whether it is printed or displayed).

  In recent years, the number of pixels of digital cameras has been increasing. For example, a 5 million pixel class popular digital camera has also appeared on the market. Images taken with such a high-pixel digital camera have high image quality, but always taking the maximum image size and image quality increases the amount of image data, and the number of images that can be recorded on a recording medium. Will decrease. On the other hand, if the image is taken with a low pixel count / low image quality, an appropriate image quality cannot be obtained when printing. Therefore, in a digital camera, generally, a user can set an image size and an image quality according to a shooting purpose.

However, today, digital cameras are also permeating among people who are not familiar with digital technology, and such people naturally have limitations in judging appropriate image sizes and image quality according to the purpose of shooting. Although the image size is large, it is impossible to determine what size is suitable for what application. In addition, the difference in image quality is generally the difference in compression rate.When the compression rate increases, the image quality decreases, but the size of the image data (different from the size of the image) decreases and many images can be written to the recording media. However, it is impossible to guess how much it differs. Furthermore, since the LCD screen attached to the digital camera is small and the size that can be displayed is fixed, no matter what the image size or image quality is set, the image obtained after shooting from the image displayed on the LCD screen. I can't imagine size and image quality.
Therefore, conventionally, a digital camera that prompts the user to specify a shooting purpose on a selection screen after shooting and automatically sets the image size and image quality according to the selection result has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 11-191873 A (page 2-4, FIG. 2)

However, in the invention of Patent Document 1, the user designates the shooting purpose on the selection screen after shooting, and the image on the liquid crystal screen provided in the digital camera is a reduced image. The image quality of the image obtained when the image is displayed or printed at the same size is not matched. Unless it is an obvious failure image, it is difficult to determine the shooting purpose based on the liquid crystal display after shooting.
Another feature of digital cameras is that they can be taken and edited (delete unnecessary images) later. If the shooting purpose must be input after every shooting as in the invention of Patent Document 1, a plurality of operations are required for shooting a single image, which causes the user to determine the shooting purpose for each shooting. However, there is a problem that the characteristics of the digital camera are impaired.

  Furthermore, in the invention of Patent Document 1, there are only two modes for enabling the image size and the like to be set according to the photographing purpose, namely “print mode” and “monitor display mode”. Actually, there are various purposes for taking photographs with digital cameras, such as large-sized prints, L-size prints, stickers (prints), etc. There are various things such as publishing and display on television (TV).

For example, when printing in an L size, it is considered appropriate to set the image size to 1280 × 960 and high image quality. However, the user determines that the image quality is good with the display of “xxx 10,000 pixels” displayed on the digital camera, and tends to take all the photos with such a high image quality. Even when shooting with such a high image quality, the image quality at the time of printing in the L size is not so good, and only the number of recorded images is reduced. That is, a digital camera with a large number of pixels has an excessive image size for use in L size printing.
Also, since the recording medium is more expensive than photographic film, a user who wants to take a lot of photographs tends to set the image size small and the image quality low (such as economy). If a large stretch print is performed with such settings, the image becomes rough and the image quality is insufficient for viewing.
Furthermore, there are problems with the capacity of the home page and the display size of images that are placed on the home page.
Furthermore, when using the captured image as a memo, if the subject is a landscape, the image size may be small and the image quality may be standard, and if the subject is text, the image size will be large if the image size is large. It is unnecessary.

  In this way, there are various usage scenes (shooting purposes) of digital cameras, and there are appropriate image sizes and image quality for each, but the amount of information that can be displayed on the digital camera's LCD screen is limited, so When a menu including a shooting purpose as an option is displayed, there is a problem in that an appropriate image size and image quality may not be easily set because the shooting purpose desired by the user is not included in the options.

  In addition, the method using the menu as in the invention of Patent Document 1 has a problem that the operation may be complicated for the user.

The present invention has been made to solve the technical problems as described above. The purpose of the present invention is to determine the image size and / or image quality that must be determined prior to shooting with a digital camera. It is to be able to set in an expression that the user can intuitively understand by providing a category.
Another object is to easily set the image size and / or image quality that must be determined prior to shooting with the digital camera by displaying a menu that includes the shooting purpose desired by the user as a choice with a high probability. There is to do.
Still another object is to make it possible to easily set an image size and / or image quality that needs to be determined prior to photographing with a digital camera by operating a dedicated key.

  For this purpose, the present invention enables the user to easily set the image size and / or image quality by designating a desired photographing purpose. That is, the first digital camera of the present invention has a memory for storing shooting purpose information that associates a shooting purpose indicating a use application of a shot image with an image size and / or image quality, and is stored in the memory. Depending on the selection of a specific shooting purpose included in the shooting purpose information, the image size and / or image quality corresponding to the specific shooting purpose is read from the memory, and the image size and / or image quality of the image to be shot is read. And a controller to be set as

  Further, the present invention can be regarded as the following invention from the viewpoint of the user interface. That is, the second digital camera of the present invention is a shooting purpose category menu display means (step 103 included in the controller 40) for displaying a shooting purpose category menu including a shooting purpose category indicating a use purpose of a taken image as an option. And a shooting purpose menu including shooting purposes belonging to the specific category as options in accordance with the selection of the specific category on the shooting purpose category menu displayed by the shooting purpose category menu display means. Photographing purpose menu display means (means for executing steps 105 to 107 included in the controller 40). Further, the third digital camera of the present invention is a shooting purpose menu display means for displaying a shooting purpose menu including a shooting purpose indicating a use purpose of the taken image as an option (means for executing step 203 included in the controller 40). And photographing purpose menu change instruction means (means for executing step 208 included in the controller 40) for instructing to include photographing purposes that are not included as options in the photographing purpose menu. Furthermore, the fourth digital camera of the present invention is a first option for setting the image size and / or image quality according to the shooting purpose in the first or second digital camera (for example, “shooting object of FIG. )) And a shooting setting menu including a second option for setting the image size and / or image quality regardless of the shooting purpose (for example, “image size” and / or “image quality” in FIG. 3). Shooting setting menu display means (means for displaying a shooting setting menu included in the controller 40).

  The present invention can also be understood as a digital camera control device incorporated in a digital camera so that a user can easily select a desired shooting purpose from a variety of shooting purposes. In this case, the digital camera control device of the present invention executes a shooting purpose output unit (steps 106, 107, and 203 included in the controller 40) for reading out and outputting a part of the shooting purpose indicating the usage of the shot image from the memory. Means for accepting a selection of a specific photographing purpose among the photographing purposes output by the photographing purpose output means (means for executing steps 108 and 205 included in the controller 40), and accepting the selection Image size / image quality reading means (steps 109 and 209 included in the controller 40) for reading out the image size and / or image quality stored in the memory as the image size and / or image quality appropriate for the specific photographing purpose selected by the means And the image read by the image size / image quality reading means. Size and / or image quality, and a setting means for setting an image size and / or quality of an image to be photographed (it means for executing steps 110 and 210 included in the controller 40).

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be understood as a digital camera control method for a digital camera that allows a user to easily select a desired shooting purpose from a variety of shooting purposes. In this case, the digital camera control method of the present invention reads out a part of the photographing purpose indicating the use application of the photographed image from the memory and outputs it (corresponding to steps 106, 107, and 203), and the outputted photographing purpose. A step of receiving a selection of a specific shooting purpose (corresponding to steps 108 and 205), an image size and / or an image size stored in a memory as an image quality appropriate for the specific shooting purpose for which the selection is received, and / or Alternatively, a step of reading the image quality (corresponding to steps 109 and 209), a step of setting the read image size and / or image quality as the image size and / or image quality of the image to be captured (corresponding to steps 110 and 210), Is included.

  According to the present invention, the image size and / or image quality at the time of shooting with a digital camera can be easily set by categorizing it with expressions that can be understood intuitively even for beginners such as shooting purposes or usage applications. It becomes possible. In addition, the purpose can be easily set at the time of shooting by providing the dedicated key.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. The digital camera includes a lens 10, an image sensor 20, an A / D conversion circuit 30, a controller 40, a liquid crystal display 50, operation keys 60, a built-in memory 70, and an auxiliary storage device 80. . Note that this diagram is an outline, and even a configuration generally required for a digital camera may be omitted for components that are not directly related to the present invention.

The lens 10 forms an image of the subject on the image sensor 20. The imaging element 20 is an element that converts light that has entered through the lens 10 into an electrical signal, and is, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Diode) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). The A / D conversion circuit 30 is a circuit for converting a signal of image data input as an analog signal into a digital signal.
The controller 40 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls signal input from the A / D conversion circuit 30, display control on the liquid crystal display 50, input control from the operation keys 60, and output to the built-in memory 70. This is a part that performs various controls such as control and output control to the auxiliary storage device 80.
The liquid crystal display 50 is a display for displaying an image stored in the built-in memory 70 and a menu screen for performing various settings for the digital camera. The operation key 60 is a key for performing various setting operations on the digital camera. The built-in memory 70 is a memory for storing captured images, data for performing various settings, and the like. The auxiliary storage device 80 is a recording medium for recording captured images, and is, for example, a flash memory. In general, the auxiliary storage device 80 is configured to be detachable from the digital camera body, but in FIG. 1, for convenience, the auxiliary storage device 80 is shown in a form connected to the controller 40.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the digital camera in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, a liquid crystal display 50 and operation keys 60 are arranged on the back surface.
When setting the shooting environment, conventionally, a shooting setting menu including “shooting mode”, “image size”, “image quality”, and the like as options is displayed on the liquid crystal display 50. In the present embodiment, As shown in FIG. 3, in addition to these, “shooting purpose” is displayed as an option. The user moves the cursor shown by the black triangle mark on the left side of FIG. 3 to select “shooting purpose” and press a selection decision button (not shown) to confirm this selection. Thereby, a menu for designating the image size and / or image quality for the purpose of photographing (hereinafter referred to as “photographing purpose menu”) is displayed. In addition, a device is devised so that the user can easily select a desired shooting purpose from among various shooting purposes using the operation keys 60.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments thereof will be described.
In the first and second embodiments, a description is given of a mode in which a menu including a number of shooting objectives desired by the user as options is displayed with a high probability, assuming a number of shooting objectives that cannot be simultaneously displayed on the liquid crystal display 50. However, a mode in which a single menu including a number of photographing purposes that can be simultaneously displayed on the liquid crystal display 50 as options is also included in the scope of the present invention.

(First embodiment)
In the first embodiment, when shooting purposes are divided into several categories, shooting purpose menus corresponding to the respective categories are displayed. Here, assuming that the category is intended to be displayed on a computer, a TV, or the like, and the purpose is to print on a medium such as paper, the shooting purpose menu for the former is set to “shooting purpose”. Menu (display) ", and the shooting purpose menu for the latter will be referred to as" shooting purpose menu (print) ".

First, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a shooting purpose category menu displayed when the selection of “shooting purpose” is confirmed in the shooting setting menu shown in FIG. In this shooting purpose category menu, “display” and “print” are displayed as options.
4A shows a state when the cursor is positioned on “display” among the two options, and FIG. 4B shows a state when the cursor is positioned on “print”. ing.

For example, when a selection decision button (not shown) is pressed in the state of FIG. 4A, this decision is confirmed, and the shooting purpose menu (display) shown in FIG. 5A is displayed. That is, among various shooting purposes, “wallpaper”, “high-definition TV”, “homepage”, “TV”, and “small TV” are displayed as options for display on a computer, TV, etc. The
Further, when a selection decision button (not shown) is pressed in the state of FIG. 4B, this decision is confirmed, and a shooting purpose menu (print) shown in FIG. 5B is displayed. That is, among various photographing purposes, the purpose of printing on a medium such as paper is “large stretch print”, “L size print”, “business card size print”, “seal (print) (large ) ”And“ Seal (Print) (Small) ”are displayed as options.

At this time, the built-in memory 70 of the digital camera stores correspondence information (hereinafter referred to as “photographing purpose information”) between the photographing purpose and the image size and / or image quality as shown in FIG. FIG. 6A shows shooting purpose information about shooting purposes belonging to the “display” category, and FIG. 6B shows shooting purpose information about shooting purposes belonging to the “print” category. Therefore, the options included in the shooting purpose menu of FIG. 5A may be acquired with reference to the shooting purpose information of FIG. Further, the options included in the shooting purpose menu of FIG. 5B may be acquired with reference to the shooting purpose information of FIG.
FIG. 5A shows a state where the cursor is positioned on the “homepage” among the displayed photographing purposes, and FIG. 5B shows the cursor positioned on the “L size print”. It shows the state of time.

For example, when a selection decision button (not shown) is pressed in the state of FIG. 5A, this decision is confirmed, and the image size “640x480” corresponding to the photographing purpose “homepage” is selected from the photographing purpose information of FIG. "Standard image quality" is read and set as the image size and image quality at the time of shooting.
The display content of the liquid crystal display 50 at this time is shown in FIG. That is, the screen returns to the shooting setting menu shown in FIG. 3, but “Homepage” is selected as the shooting purpose, the image size for the shooting “Homepage” is “640x480”, and the image quality is “ A description indicating "standard image quality" is added.
Further, when a selection decision button (not shown) is pressed in the state of FIG. 5B, this decision is confirmed, and the image size “1280 × 960” corresponding to the photographing purpose “L size print” is determined from the photographing purpose information of FIG. 6B. ”And the image quality“ high image quality ”are read out and set as the image size and image quality at the time of shooting.
The display content of the liquid crystal display 50 at this time is shown in FIG. That is, the screen returns to the shooting setting menu shown in FIG. 3, but “L size print” is selected as the shooting purpose, and the image size for the shooting purpose “L size print” is “1280 × 960”. And a description indicating that the image quality is “high image quality” is added.

  Note that it is also possible to individually change the image size and / or image quality settings after confirming the image size and image quality in the shooting setting menu of FIG. That is, in the shooting setting menu of FIG. 7, the user can freely set the correspondence between the shooting purpose and the image size and / or image quality. In this case, the correspondence between the newly set shooting purpose and the image size and / or image quality is written in the shooting purpose information of FIG.

Next, the processing operation of the controller 40 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the controller 40.
When the user selects an option from the shooting setting menu of FIG. 3 displayed on the liquid crystal display 50 and confirms the selection, the controller 40 detects the selection (step 101). Then, it is determined whether or not the selection is “shooting purpose” (step 102). If it is not “shooting purpose”, other processing is performed. If it is “shooting purpose”, the shooting purpose category shown in FIG. A menu is displayed (step 103).
When the user selects an option from the shooting purpose category menu and confirms the selection, the controller 40 detects the selection (step 104). Then, it is determined whether the selection is “display” or “print” (step 105). In the case of “display”, among the photographing purpose information stored in the built-in memory 70, FIG. The shooting purpose menu (display) shown in FIG. 5A is displayed with reference to those belonging to the “display” category shown (step 106). On the other hand, in the case of “print”, the shooting purpose information stored in the internal memory 70 is referred to information belonging to the “print” category shown in FIG. 6B, and the shooting purpose menu of FIG. (Print) is displayed (step 107).

Further, when the user selects any option from the shooting purpose menu and confirms the selection, the controller 40 detects the selection (step 108) and stores the selection in FIG. 6A or FIG. 6 (b) is referred to, and the image size and image quality corresponding to the selected shooting purpose are acquired (step 109). Then, the image size and image quality are set (step 110).
Note that an image compression unit (not shown) in the controller 40 holds the image size and image quality settings and records the image data transmitted from the A / D conversion circuit 30 in the built-in memory 70 or the built-in memory 70. When the image data once recorded in the auxiliary storage device 80 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 80, the image size and the image quality acquired in step 109 are determined in step 110 when image compression is performed according to the set image size and image quality. The image compression means in the controller 40 is set. If the image size and image quality settings are stored in the built-in memory 70 and the controller 40 refers to the built-in memory 70 and performs image compression at the same timing, the image size and image quality acquired in step 109 are stored. The image quality is set in the internal memory 70 in step 110. However, the image size and image quality can be set using any method according to the existing digital camera system.
Thus, the operation of the first embodiment is completed.

In the present embodiment, the shooting purpose information shown in FIG. 6 is managed in a separate table for each shooting purpose category, but may be managed in the same table. In that case, an item for identifying the category (category identification information) may be added to the table, and it may be determined which category the shooting purpose information belongs to.
In the present embodiment, two categories of “display” and “print” are illustrated as categories, but the category is not limited to this.
Further, the photographing purpose is not limited to the above example, and any expression may be used as long as it can express the situation when the image is used. For example, a shooting purpose such as “I want to take a lot of pictures” that is difficult to be classified into any of the categories may be provided.

  Furthermore, for a specific shooting purpose, in the shooting purpose information stored in the built-in memory 70, information indicating that the image size and the image quality are different for each device used for the shooting purpose is registered. May further store device information in which identification information of a device that can be used for the purpose of photographing is associated with an image size and / or image quality when the device is used. This is because even if the shooting purpose is the same, an appropriate image size and / or image quality may differ depending on the type of apparatus used for the shooting purpose. For example, when an image taken with a digital camera is considered to be displayed as wallpaper on a personal computer, an appropriate image size can be set to XGA (eXtended Graphics Array) or SXGA (Super eXtended Graphics) due to differences in CRT display, liquid crystal display, etc. Array) and UXGA (Ultra eXtended Graphics Array). Therefore, as device information, an appropriate one of 1024x768 (XGA), 1280x1024 (SXGA), and 1600x1200 (UXGA) is registered for each identification information for identifying the model of each personal computer. In this way, for the shooting purpose “wallpaper”, the image size corresponding to the model of the personal computer designated by the user is read and set.

Thus, in this embodiment, when “shooting purpose” is selected in the shooting setting menu, the shooting purpose category menu is displayed, and the shooting purpose menu for the category selected in this menu is displayed. This makes it easy to set the image size and / or image quality according to the shooting purpose when the shooting purpose is divided into several categories.
In addition, by adding the purpose of shooting to the category in this way, the image size and image quality settings that were previously set independently can be switched to appropriate settings simultaneously based on intuitive expressions that the user can understand. Can also be set easily. Needless to say, since a plurality of settings can be made simultaneously with one menu, the operation is simplified.

(Second Embodiment)
In the second embodiment, when the number of shooting objectives stored in the built-in memory 70 exceeds the number of shooting objectives that can be displayed on the liquid crystal display 50, the history of selection in the past is taken into account. A shooting purpose menu including a shooting purpose that is likely to be selected by the user is displayed.

First, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a shooting purpose menu displayed when the selection of “shooting purpose” is confirmed in the shooting setting menu shown in FIG. In this shooting purpose menu, among the various shooting purposes, “Large size print”, “L size print”, “Homepage”, “Memo image”, “Large size print”, “Memo (character)” is displayed as an option.
FIG. 9 shows a state in which the cursor is positioned at “large print” among the displayed photographing purposes.

  At this time, the built-in memory 70 of the digital camera stores shooting purpose information in which the shooting purpose is associated with the image size and / or image quality as shown in FIG. In FIG. 10, unlike the shooting purpose information of FIG. 6 in the first embodiment, an order is given to the shooting purpose. This means that the shooting purpose with a lower number is more likely to be selected by the user next, and the options included in the shooting purpose menu of FIG. 9 are the shooting purposes included in the shooting purpose information of FIG. Among them, the top five shooting purposes are taken out.

In addition, as a method of assigning ranks, for example, the following can be considered.
The first is a method of assigning a rank by always placing the photographing purpose selected last time in the first row. In this case, the recently selected shooting purpose is displayed on the shooting purpose menu as a shooting purpose that the user is most likely to select next.
Second, it is a method of assigning ranks in the order of the largest number of selections in the past. In this case, a shooting purpose that is frequently selected by the user is displayed on the shooting purpose menu as a shooting purpose that is likely to be selected next by the user. However, in order to realize this method, for example, it is necessary to provide an item (selection number counter) for counting the number of times the photographing purpose is selected for each photographing purpose in the photographing purpose information of FIG.
A third method is to assign a rank in order of the number of photographs taken in the past for that purpose. In this case, a shooting purpose with a large number of photographs taken by the user for the shooting purpose is displayed on the shooting purpose menu as a shooting purpose that the user is most likely to select next. According to this method, for example, selecting “L size print” and shooting a large number of sheets is more highly evaluated than selecting “Large size print” and shooting only one image. The latter shooting purpose is displayed at the top of the shooting purpose menu. However, in order to realize this method, for example, it is necessary to provide an item (photo number counter) for counting the number of photographs taken for each photographing purpose in the photographing purpose information of FIG. .

Next, when a selection decision button (not shown) in the state of FIG. 9 is pressed, this decision is confirmed, and the image size “2048x1536” and the image quality “high image quality” corresponding to the photographing purpose “large stretch print” are confirmed from the photographing purpose information of FIG. "Is read out and set as the image size and image quality at the time of shooting.
The display content of the liquid crystal display 50 at this time is shown in FIG. That is, the screen is returned to the shooting setting menu shown in FIG. 3, but “large stretch print” is selected as the shooting purpose, and the image size for the shooting purpose “large stretch print” is “2048x1536”. A description indicating that the image quality is “high image quality” has been added.

  Note that after confirming the image size and image quality in the shooting setting menu of FIG. 11, it is also possible to individually change the image size and / or image quality settings. That is, in the shooting setting menu of FIG. 11, the user can freely set the correspondence between the shooting purpose and the image size and / or image quality. In this case, the correspondence between the newly set shooting purpose and the image size and / or image quality is written in the shooting purpose information of FIG.

Next, the processing operation of the controller 40 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the controller 40.
When the user selects an option from the shooting setting menu of FIG. 3 displayed on the liquid crystal display 50 and confirms the selection, the controller 40 detects the selection (step 201). Then, it is determined whether or not the selection is “shooting purpose” (step 202). If it is not “shooting purpose”, other processing is performed. If it is “shooting purpose”, the shooting purpose menu shown in FIG. Is displayed (step 203).

When the user performs any operation on the shooting purpose menu, the controller 40 detects the operation (step 204). Then, it is determined whether the content of the operation is movement of the cursor for selection or confirmation of selection (step 205). If it is determined that the operation is movement of the cursor, the cursor can be moved. (Step 206).
Here, when the cursor is movable, that is, when it is instructed to move the cursor up when there is a line above the line where the current cursor is positioned, or the current cursor is positioned. If it is instructed to move the cursor down when there is a line below the current line, the cursor is moved according to the instruction (step 207), and the process returns to step 205.
On the other hand, when the cursor cannot be moved, that is, when it is instructed to move the cursor up while the line where the cursor is currently positioned is the top line, or the cursor is currently positioned If it is instructed to move the cursor down in a state where the line is the bottom line, the shooting purpose menu is scrolled and displayed (step 208). For example, in the state where the shooting objectives in the rankings 3 to 7 in the shooting objective information of FIG. 10 are included as options in the shooting objective menu, an instruction to move the cursor positioned for the shooting objective of the rank 3 further up one line. When this is done, the shooting objectives included as options in the shooting objective menu are changed to those corresponding to ranks 2 to 6. Similarly, when an instruction to move the cursor positioned at the shooting purpose of rank 7 further down is given in a state where shooting objectives of rank 3 to rank 7 are included as options in the shooting purpose menu, shooting is performed. The photographing purposes included as options in the purpose menu are changed to those corresponding to ranks 4 to 8.
Thereafter, the process returns to step 205.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 205 that the content of the operation is confirmation of selection, the controller 40 refers to the shooting purpose information of FIG. 10 stored in the built-in memory 70 and corresponds to the selected shooting purpose. The size and image quality are acquired (step 209). Then, the image size and image quality are set (step 210).
Note that an image compression unit (not shown) in the controller 40 holds the image size and image quality settings and records the image data transmitted from the A / D conversion circuit 30 in the built-in memory 70 or the built-in memory 70. When the image data once recorded in the auxiliary storage device 80 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 80, the image size and the image quality acquired in step 209 are determined in step 210 when image compression is performed according to the set image size and image quality. The image compression means in the controller 40 is set. If the image size and image quality settings are stored in the built-in memory 70 and the controller 40 refers to the built-in memory 70 and performs image compression at the same timing, the image size and the image quality acquired in step 209 are stored. The image quality is set in the internal memory 70 in step 210. However, the image size and image quality can be set using any method according to the existing digital camera system.

Finally, the controller 40 rearranges the shooting purpose information (step 211).
For example, when the above-described first ranking method is adopted, processing for arranging the currently selected shooting purpose information in the first row is performed. Further, when the second ranking method described above is adopted, the numerical value stored in the selection number counter in the currently selected photographing purpose information is counted up by 1, and the number after the count-up is used as the selection number counter. The shooting purpose information is sorted based on the selection counter at that time. Further, when the third ranking method described above is adopted, each time a photograph is taken for the currently selected photographing purpose, the numerical value stored in the number-of-photograph counter in the current photographing purpose information is incremented by one. Then, the numerical value after counting up is written back to the photo number counter, and the shooting purpose information is sorted based on the photo number counter at that time. Alternatively, the number of photographs taken for the current photographing purpose is recorded in another area on the built-in memory 70, and when the next photographing purpose is selected, a photograph number counter for the photographing purpose before the selection is recorded. It is also possible to count up the number of images that have been stored and sort the shooting purpose information based on the number of photos counter at that time.
Thus, the operation of the second embodiment is completed.

In the present embodiment, the purpose of photographing is not limited to the above example, and any expression may be used as long as it can express the situation when the image is used.
In addition, the configuration described in the first embodiment can be added to the present embodiment.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when “shooting purpose” is selected in the shooting setting menu, a shooting purpose menu including a shooting purpose that is most likely to be selected next by the user from various shooting purposes is displayed. I tried to do it. Thereby, even when various shooting purposes are considered, it is possible to easily set the image size and / or image quality according to the shooting purpose.

(Third embodiment)
In the third embodiment, for example, a function key is newly provided on the back of a digital camera, and it is possible to easily select a shooting purpose using the function key. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, function keys are assigned so that one key functions as a “purpose switching dedicated key” in the photographing mode.
The operation when this “purpose switching key” is pressed is, for example, as follows. That is, when the “purpose switching key” is pressed once, the currently set shooting purpose is displayed in the “switching information display area” of the liquid crystal display 50. Further, when the “purpose switching dedicated key” is pressed once again, it is set to the shooting purpose next to the currently set shooting purpose, and the setting status is displayed on the liquid crystal display 50 “switching information display area”. Further, when the “purpose switching dedicated key” is pressed again, the next shooting purpose is set, and the setting status is displayed in the “switching information display area” of the liquid crystal display 50. In this way, each time the “purpose switching key” is pressed, the shooting purpose is switched, and the setting status is displayed on the liquid crystal screen. Generally, settings such as image size and image quality are also displayed on the liquid crystal screen, so that beginners and advanced users can easily determine the setting state.
In the first or second embodiment described above, it is necessary to operate many types of function keys to display a shooting purpose menu and select a desired shooting purpose from the menu. In this embodiment, it is possible to select a desired photographing purpose by operating one function key called “purpose switching dedicated key”. That is, it becomes possible to more easily select an appropriate image size and / or image quality according to the application.

It is a hardware block diagram of the digital camera in embodiment of this invention. It is a rear view of the digital camera in the embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography setting menu displayed on the liquid crystal display of the digital camera in embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography purpose category menu displayed on the liquid crystal display of the digital camera in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography objective menu displayed on the liquid crystal display of the digital camera in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography objective information memorize | stored in the built-in memory of the digital camera in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography setting menu displayed on the liquid crystal display of the digital camera in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the processing operation of the controller in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography objective menu displayed on the liquid crystal display of the digital camera in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography objective information memorize | stored in the built-in memory of the digital camera in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the imaging | photography setting menu displayed on the liquid crystal display of the digital camera in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the processing operation of the controller in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the rear view of the digital camera in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Lens, 20 ... Imaging device, 30 ... A / D conversion circuit, 40 ... Controller, 50 ... Liquid crystal display, 60 ... Operation key, 70 ... Built-in memory, 80 ... Auxiliary storage device

Claims (16)

A memory for storing shooting purpose information in which a shooting purpose indicating a use purpose of a shot image and an image size and / or image quality are associated with each other;
In response to selection of a specific shooting purpose among the shooting purposes included in the shooting purpose information stored in the memory, an image size and / or image quality corresponding to the specific shooting purpose is read from the memory and shot. And a controller for setting the image size and / or image quality of the image to be recorded. The controller is
2. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein selection of the specific photographing purpose is urged by reading out the photographing purpose included in the photographing purpose information stored in the memory and outputting it as a menu. The controller is
3. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein a photographing purpose belonging to a specified category is read out of the photographing purposes included in the photographing purpose information. The memory is
Storing the shooting purpose information together with category identification information indicating a category to which the shooting purpose belongs,
The controller is
4. The digital camera according to claim 3, wherein a photographing purpose belonging to the designated category is specified by referring to the category identification information. The memory is
The shooting purpose information is stored together with the order,
The controller is
3. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein the photographing purpose included in the photographing purpose information for a specific range of ranks is read out of the photographing purpose information. The controller is
6. The digital camera according to claim 5, wherein according to selection of the specific shooting purpose, shooting purpose information including the specific shooting purpose is stored in the memory as shooting purpose information having the highest rank. The memory is
Storing the shooting purpose information together with a selection number counter for storing the number of times the shooting purpose is selected;
The controller is
The number-of-selection counter for the specific photographing purpose is counted up according to the selection of the specific photographing purpose, and the photographing purpose information is rearranged based on the selection number counter after the count-up. Item 6. The digital camera according to Item 5. The memory is
Storing the shooting purpose information together with a photo number counter for storing the number of photos taken with the shooting purpose selected;
The controller is
In response to taking a picture with the specific shooting purpose selected, the photo number counter for the specific shooting purpose is counted up, and the shooting purpose information is rearranged based on the counted photo number counter. The digital camera according to claim 5, wherein: The memory is
For a predetermined shooting purpose, further storing device information that associates identification information of a device that can be used for the shooting purpose with an image size and / or image quality when the device is used,
The controller is
According to the selection of the specific shooting purpose, the image size and / or image quality when using a specific device is read out from the device information stored in the memory, and the image size and / or image quality of the image to be shot is read. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein the digital camera is set as follows.   2. The digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising a function key for selecting the specific photographing purpose. A shooting purpose category menu display means for displaying a shooting purpose category menu including a shooting purpose category indicating a use purpose of a photographed image as an option;
A shooting purpose menu display that displays a shooting purpose menu including shooting purposes belonging to the specific category as options in response to selection of a specific category on the shooting purpose category menu displayed by the shooting purpose category menu display means. A digital camera comprising: means. A shooting purpose menu display means for displaying a shooting purpose menu including a shooting purpose indicating an intended use of the taken image as an option;
A digital camera comprising: a shooting purpose menu change instructing unit for instructing to include a shooting purpose that is not included as an option in the shooting purpose menu.   A shooting setting menu including a first option for setting the image size and / or image quality depending on the shooting purpose and a second option for setting the image size and / or image quality regardless of the shooting purpose is displayed. 13. The digital camera according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising photographing setting menu display means. The shooting setting menu display means includes:
In response to selection of a specific shooting purpose on the shooting purpose menu, information indicating that the specific shooting purpose is selected is displayed in association with the first option, and the second option is displayed. 14. The digital camera according to claim 13, wherein the image size and / or the image quality for the specific photographing purpose are displayed in association with each other. Shooting purpose output means for reading out and outputting a part of the shooting purpose indicating the intended use of the photographed image from the memory;
Selection accepting means for accepting selection of a specific photographing purpose out of the photographing purposes output by the photographing purpose output means;
An image size / image quality reading means for reading out an image size and / or image quality stored in the memory as an image size and / or image quality appropriate for the specific photographing purpose received by the selection receiving means;
A digital camera control device comprising: setting means for setting the image size and / or image quality read by the image size / image quality reading means as the image size and / or image quality of a photographed image. A step of reading out a part of the photographing purpose indicating the usage of the photographed image from the memory and outputting it;
Receiving a selection of a specific shooting purpose among the output shooting purposes;
Reading the image size and / or image quality stored in the memory as an image size and / or image quality appropriate for the particular shooting purpose for which the selection was accepted;
And setting the read image size and / or image quality as the image size and / or image quality of the image to be photographed.

Images