JP4373739B2 - Digital camera - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention provides an image recording medium on which an image is recorded, a digital camera that captures a subject image, generates an image on the data, and records the image on the image recording medium, and reproduces the image data recorded on the image recording medium. The present invention relates to an image display device that displays an image on a display screen.

  By connecting a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) or the like to a network, it is possible to access a large number of databases on the network and perform information retrieval. In recent years, PCs can also be carried like notebook computers, and a network can be accessed from any location by combining a cellular phone, a wide area LAN, or the like.

  By the way, there is a case where it is desired to perform integrated management of information by linking an image photographed with a digital camera to the memories at the destination and information on the destination, for example, information on a homepage where the name of the hotel of the destination is disclosed. In such a case, if you have a notebook PC and a mobile phone, connect the notebook PC to the mobile phone to get information from the server, and connect a digital camera to the notebook PC. It is possible to carry out integrated management of information by taking a captured image into a PC, and connecting the information extracted from the server and the captured image on the PC. Among these, there is one that integrally manages documents having different document forms (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

However, if you want to edit the integrated management information when you return to your home, you may need to re-acquire information from the same server that acquired the information when you traveled. There is a problem of becoming.
JP 2000-245139 A

  In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an image recording medium that facilitates integrated management of information, an image display device that is useful when performing the integrated management, and a digital camera including the image recording medium and the image display device. The purpose is to do.

The image recording medium of the present invention that achieves the above object is an image recording medium on which an image is recorded,
The image is characterized in that a URL is embedded in a format that can be extracted by the URL alone.

  According to the image recording medium of the present invention, information and images in the database of the server indicated by the ULR are integrated and managed by embedding a URL (abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator) so-called Internet address in the image.

  Then, as long as the user has this image recording medium, the image and information related to the image can be integrated and managed.

  Here, it is preferable that the image is encrypted, and the URL is a URL indicating a location of the key for image encryption.

  If the URL indicates the location of the key when the image is encrypted, the encrypted image is not decrypted unless the key is issued from the location having the key. For example, when an information device such as a PC loaded with this memory card is connected to a server on the public network as a client, the image is decrypted unless a key is issued from the server where the key exists. Not. By having such a mechanism, it is possible to handle information that is safely integrated and managed.

  Preferably, the image has a header, and the URL is written in the header.

  Then, regardless of the encrypted image, the unencrypted URL is extracted from the header when the image recording medium is loaded in an information device such as a PC, and the connection with the server indicated by the URL is established. Later the image is decoded.

The digital camera of the present invention that achieves the above object is a digital camera that captures a subject image, generates an image on data, and records the image on an image recording medium.
A means for embedding a URL in an image recorded on the image recording medium is provided.

  According to the digital camera of the present invention, the URL of the database related to the photographed image is freely embedded in the image recorded on the image recording medium, and the database information associated with the photographed image is recorded. Are recorded on the image recording medium and integratedly managed. Then, the photographer can manage not only the photographed image but also the photographed image and database information by simply recording the URL of the server having information related to the image.

Further, the digital camera of the present invention comprises image display means for displaying an image recorded on the image recording medium,
Communication means for obtaining information from a server indicated by a URL embedded in an image recorded on the image recording medium,
The image display means preferably further displays information acquired by the communication means.

  As described above, when the digital camera of the present invention includes the communication unit and the image display unit, information can be acquired from the server with the digital camera without connecting a mobile phone. Can be viewed. Then, integrated management of information can be performed with a digital camera.

The image display device of the present invention that achieves the object is an image acquisition unit that acquires an image with an embedded URL, an image display unit that displays an image acquired by the image acquisition unit, and an image acquisition unit that acquires the image. Communication means for obtaining information from the server indicated by the URL embedded in the image,
The image display means further displays information acquired by the communication means.

  According to the image display device, when the image recorded in the memory card is acquired, the acquired image is displayed on the recording image display means, and when information related to the image is obtained by the communication means, Information can also be displayed on the image display means.

  Then, if there is the image recording medium, after the URL embedded image recorded on the image recording medium is displayed on the image display device and the server is accessed using the communication means provided in the image display device, You can receive the key and decrypt the image.

  As described above, since the image recording medium, the digital camera, and the image display device are all portable devices, if the image recording medium and the digital camera or the image display device exist, information that is integrated and managed can be obtained anytime and anywhere. It is also possible to manage information by integrating information on the database and images taken by the user.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the image recording medium that facilitates the integrated management of information, the image display device useful when performing the integrated management, the image recording medium, and the image display device are provided. A digital camera can be provided.

  Hereinafter, a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIGS. 1A and 1B are views showing the appearance of a digital camera. FIG. 1A shows a perspective view seen from the front and obliquely upward, and FIG. 1B shows a perspective view seen from the rear and obliquely upward.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, a lens barrel 11 is provided at the center of the camera body 1a, and a finder 12 is provided above the lens barrel 11. A flash light emission window 13 is provided next to the finder 12, and a release button 14 is provided above the camera body 1a.

  On the side surface of the camera body 1a, there is provided an insertion port 16a into which an image recording medium loaded in the camera body, here a memory card is detachably inserted. The memory card 17 is inserted from the insertion slot 16a, and the photographed image is recorded on the memory card 17 inserted in the card insertion chamber 16.

  The digital camera 1 of the present embodiment has a playback mode and a shooting mode, and switching between them is performed by a mode switch 15 at the top of the camera body.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, a display device 18 is provided on the back of the camera body 1, and a cross key and other switches 19 are provided on the side of the display device.

  The internal configuration of this digital camera will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a signal processing unit provided in the digital camera 1. FIG. 2 mainly shows a processing system for writing a URL to an image recorded on the memory card 19.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the operation of the digital camera 1 is controlled by the CPU 100 as a whole.

  When the mode switch 15 is switched to the shooting mode, an image shot by the imaging device 101 is recorded on the memory card 19 by the recording device 102 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 100. When the mode switch 15 is switched to the playback mode, one of the images recorded on the memory card 19 is played back by the playback device 103, and the played back image is displayed on the display screen of the display device 18. Is done.

  The digital camera 1 also includes a communication device 104, which is connected to a network and communicates with other information devices on the network.

  The digital camera 1 according to the present embodiment includes a URL input device 106 that writes a URL to the header of an image stored in the memory card 17. The URL input device 106 is also controlled by the CPU 100. When the URL is input by the URL input device 106, the URL is supplied to the image header creation unit 107, and the URL 171a created by the image header creation unit 107 is stored in the memory. It is written in the header 171 of the image in the card 17. By this writing, the URL is embedded in the image.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image 170 recorded in the memory card 17 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, an image 170 captured by the digital camera 1 is recorded on the memory card 17 with the information amount compressed. FIG. 3 shows a header 171, a URL in the header 171, and a compressed image 172 compressed based on the compression information in the header 171. When the compressed image 172 is reproduced, the image cannot be reproduced unless there is information indicating the degree of compression. Therefore, the compressed information of the image is read first from the header 171 and the compressed image is expanded to obtain an image. Is played.

  Prior to this image, the URL 171a is written in the header 171 that is read into the digital camera, and the embedded portion corresponds to a format that can be extracted by the URL alone according to the present invention. When the memory card 17 on which the image in which the URL is embedded in the header 171 is recorded is loaded into the digital camera 1 and the digital camera 1 is switched to the reproduction mode, the URL 171a embedded in the image in the reproduction mode is the digital camera 1. It is taken out by the playback device.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing in detail the configuration around the playback apparatus in addition to the configuration of FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows in detail the configuration of a part that mainly performs processing for extracting the URL.

  The part that performs processing in the playback mode of the digital camera 1, that is, the CPU 100, the memory card 17, the playback device 103, the image header analysis unit 1031 and the URL extraction unit 1032 corresponds to the image display device according to the present invention. This image display device is incorporated in the digital camera 1 of the present invention.

  The flow of image reproduction by this image display device will be briefly described.

  Before the image recorded on the memory card 17 is reproduced and displayed, information in the image header 171 is retrieved by the reproduction device 103. Among the header information extracted by the playback apparatus 103, there are compressed information at recording and URL. The header information is supplied to the image header analysis unit 1031, the header analysis unit 1031 analyzes the header, and the URL extraction unit extracts the URL.

  Then, based on the analysis result in the header analysis unit 1031, the playback device 103 decompresses the image, returns it to the original image, supplies it to the display device 18, supplies the URL to the display device 18, and displays both on the display screen. To display. When an operation for designating the URL displayed on the display screen is performed, the URL, the so-called Internet address, is supplied to the server side via the communication device 104.

  When the communication state with the server side is established by the Internet address, the information indicated by the URL is acquired by using the communication device 104, the acquired information is reproduced by the reproduction device 103, supplied to the display device, and the information is included in the information. The based image is displayed on the display screen.

  The image acquisition means for acquiring the image in which the URL according to the present invention is embedded corresponds to the playback device 103, the image display means for displaying the image acquired by the image acquisition means corresponds to the display device 18, and further acquired by the image acquisition means. Communication means for acquiring information indicated by the URL embedded in the image corresponds to the communication device 104.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the digital camera 1 in FIG. 1 is connected to the local network via the communication device 104.

  This local network is managed by the server 200, and if a digital camera as a client is allowed to access the server, information in the server can be freely acquired.

  First, how URL is written in the digital camera 1 will be described.

  The digital camera 1 as a client is connected to a network, and a URL indicating the network server 200 is written by the URL input device 106 in the digital camera 1. For example, when a user goes to a zoo to photograph an animal and wants to obtain information about the animal on the local network shown in FIG. 5, the URL indicating the server having the animal information is displayed by the URL input device. Written to the header. By this writing, the URL is embedded in the header of the image.

  When the image in which the URL is embedded is reproduced and displayed on the display screen, the URL embedded in the header of the image is taken out, and the URL is reproduced together with the image and displayed on the display screen of the image display device. For example, if the displayed URL can be designated by an operation, the server indicated by the URL is accessed via the communication device 104 via the network, and information in the server is transmitted to the communication device 104. And can be displayed on the display screen of the display device 18 by the playback device 103. In this way, it is possible to switch between the own image and the information in the server or to display them simultaneously.

  In this manner, by embedding the URL in the memory card 17 that is an image recording medium, information can be easily acquired from the server.

  The above is an example when a digital camera is connected to a local network. Some networks have public information such as a home page.

  In the case of a public network such as the Internet, there are many servers on the network, and each of these servers has public information called a home page. FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example in which public information such as this home page is acquired. For example, when a user goes to a zoo and photographs the animals in the zoo with the digital camera, the user wants to obtain information on the animals from a home page where the zoo is open. In that case, a URL indicating the homepage of the zoo that the server has, for example, HTTP // WWW. zoo. co. A URL such as jp // animal //... may be embedded in the header of the image taken by the URL input device.

  However, at this time, there is a possibility that an image taken on the public network may be leaked, so that handling becomes a little difficult. Therefore, here, in order to obtain a reliable connection with one of a large number of servers on the network, an encryption key is requested from the server having the homepage, and the image is encrypted with the key. Then, the URL is embedded.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a server client type encryption procedure.

  As shown in FIG. 6, for example, SSL authentication is performed for establishing a connection between the digital camera 1 as a client and the server 200 based on a protocol. This SSL is a protocol for authentication performed between the WWW server and the WWW browser, that is, the client side. After the SSL authentication is established and connected, encryption is performed.

  First, in step 1, a key for encrypting an image is requested from the digital camera 1 side as a client to the server 200. A process for performing processing for requesting the key is described in a program in a ROM in the CPU, for example, in the digital camera. When the key is issued from the server 200 in the procedure 2, the digital camera 1 receives the key, and in the procedure 3, the image is encrypted by the CPU based on the key. Further, in step 4, the URL is written in the header by the header input device to embed the URL in the image, and in step 5, the image in which the URL is embedded is stored in the memory card.

  This is the flow of the encryption procedure.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which the URL is embedded in the memory card 17 after the image is encrypted.

  As shown in FIG. 7, an encrypted image 172 a is recorded, and a URL 171 is embedded in the header 170. At this time, since the encryption key remains in the server 200, the encrypted image is not decrypted unless the server is accessed again to receive the key.

  By doing so, there is no fear that the image is reproduced and displayed by any image display device on the network.

  Hereinafter, the decoding procedure will be described.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a decoding procedure.

  In decoding, the digital camera 1 is switched to the reproduction mode, the image is read out in the procedure 1, and the URL in the header of the read image is taken out in the procedure 2.

  Then, SSL authentication is performed between the server 200 indicated by the URL and the client 1 to establish a connection.

  Thereafter, in step 3, the server 200 is requested to request a key for decrypting the encrypted image. At this time, since the URL is already supplied to the server and the connection is established, and this URL also indicates the location of the key, the key at the location specified by the URL is issued from the server in step 4. Then, in step 5, the CPU decrypts the image with the key and displays both the image and the URL on the display screen. Further, information in the server indicated by the URL is acquired and displayed on the display screen.

  As described above, since the encryption key exists in the server and the URL is embedded in the image and the server indicated by the URL is designated, the user does not need to be aware of the key. Therefore, the user can safely handle the image without being aware of the presence of the key.

  As described above, an image recording medium that can record a captured image linked to database information on a network with a simple operation, an image recorded on the image recording medium, and a database linked to the image An image display device capable of reproducing and displaying the information and a digital camera including the memory card and the image display device are realized, and the digital camera is used as a portable device for collecting information.

  In the above example, the example in which the memory card is loaded in the digital camera is shown. However, considering that the URL is embedded in the memory card, the PC can be used as an image display device without reproducing and displaying the image on the digital camera. It can also be used as

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a case where the memory card 17 having the image of FIG. 7 is loaded into the PC 300, the PC 300 is connected to the network, and connected to the WEB server 400.

  When a memory card in which an image with a URL is recorded is loaded into the PC, the image in the memory card is read by the application software 300a, and the URL of the read image is taken out. The URL is displayed on the display screen of the PC, and an operation for designating the URL is performed in the same manner as the digital camera described above. For example, if software for requesting key issuance and specifying the URL for the application software 300a is created, the same effect as the digital camera 1 can be obtained.

  FIG. 9 shows a state where a WEB page downloaded from the WEB server is displayed on the display screen of the display device.

  In the case of the PC 300, since there are many application software installed in the PC 300, if this is utilized, both the information on the downloaded WEB page and the image in the memory card are displayed on the display screen, and these can be combined. The user can easily edit information by adding sentences.

  In this embodiment, the configuration in which the URL is input by the input device has been described. However, for example, since an image recording medium is often attached to a product or the like recently, this is used to embed the URL in the image recording medium and However, when the image recording medium is reproduced by the image display device, if the URL is designated by an operation by the user, the detailed information of the product or the advertising information of other products may be displayed.

  If a URL, for example, a URL of a homepage opened by a photo shop that develops the image recording medium, is embedded in the image recording medium, print reservation can also be made via the server.

  The server indicated by the URL may be a storage or a personal web.

  In addition, the encryption mechanism shown in FIGS. 6 and 8 can be applied to the local area shown in FIG.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, an example in which an image display device is incorporated in a digital camera has been shown, but the digital camera and the image playback device may be separate.

It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the digital camera which is this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the digital camera which is this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the image recorded on the image recording medium. It is a figure which shows the structure of the image display apparatus which the digital camera which is this embodiment has. It is a figure which shows the structure at the time of connecting a digital camera to a local network. It is a figure which shows the procedure of the encryption of an image. It is a figure which shows the structure of the image encrypted in FIG. It is a figure which shows the procedure of the decoding of an image. This is an example when a memory card having an image in which a URL is embedded is loaded in a PC.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera 11 Lens barrel 12 Finder 13 Flash emission window 14 Release button 15 Mode switch 16 Memory card insertion slot 17 Memory card 170 Image 171 Header 172 Compressed image 172a Encrypted image 18 Display device 19 Switches 200 Server 300 PC
400 WEB server

Claims (1)

In a digital camera that captures a subject image, generates an image on data, and records the image on an image recording medium,
Image recording means for recording on the image recording medium an image file composed of an image and a header portion in which information related to the image is written;
Writing means for writing a URL in the header of the image file;
Communication means for obtaining information from a server indicated by a URL written in a header of an image file recorded on the image recording medium,
When recording the image file on the image recording medium, the image recording means accesses the server indicated by the URL written in the header portion of the image file recorded on the image recording medium using the communication means. The server requests the server to issue an encryption key as the information, encrypts the image in the image file using the encryption key acquired from the server, and replaces the encrypted image with the original image. A digital camera characterized by being re-recorded on a medium.

Images