JP4883483B2 - Information recording apparatus and information recording control program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information recording apparatus and an information recording control program, and more particularly to an information recording apparatus and an information recording control program for recording image information and audio information input from the outside.

  Today, with the widespread use of digital cameras and camera-equipped mobile phones, it has become possible to shoot more easily, so it is possible to shoot a copyrighted work without legitimate authority or to shoot a person without the consent of the person. Problems such as infringement of rights and infringement of portrait rights are becoming apparent. In addition, many of these electronic devices have a recording function, and recording of sound or the like performed not only without permission but also imaging may be a problem. In this specification, image storage and image recording and audio recording are collectively referred to as “recording”.

  From such a background, an effective measure that can prohibit arbitrary recording of images and sounds has been demanded. As a conventional technique that can be used for such countermeasures, for example, a portable terminal device described in Patent Document 1 below is known.

  In this prior art, when a transmitter is installed in a place where function restriction is required, and the camera-equipped mobile phone is located within the communication area of the transmitter, the camera-equipped mobile phone receives the restriction signal output from the transmitter. In response to reception, the function of the camera-equipped mobile phone is limited.

  Specifically, when the camera-equipped mobile phone receives a function restriction signal from the outside (a restriction signal output from the transmitter) via the antenna 11, it acts on the key signal processing unit 7 to forcibly press the matrix key 8. At the same time, the signal processing function of the signal processing unit 6 is turned off and a message based on the function restriction content is displayed on the display unit 4 so as not to function even if pressed.

  One of the function restrictions is “forced camera function off mode”. Therefore, in the prior art, it is possible to prohibit photographing (recording) of an image within the communication area of the transmitter, so that problems such as wiretapping, copyright infringement or portrait right infringement can be solved.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-341044 (FIG. 2, pages 5-6)

  However, in the above-described prior art, when the limit signal output from the transmitter is received, the key signal processing unit 7 is actuated so that the function is not caused even if the matrix key 8 is forcibly pressed. Turning off the processing function solves problems such as eavesdropping, copyright infringement or portrait rights infringement within the transmitter communication area. For example, video recording / recording is started from outside the communication area. If you enter the above communication area, you will not be able to cancel the recording operation retroactively because the start of shooting will be earlier than the forced camera function off, so eavesdropping, copyright infringement or portrait right infringement, etc. Can't solve the problem.

  In other words, the conventional technique is sufficiently effective if the control signal is received before the start of recording, but if the control signal reception timing is after the completion of recording, it is too late to be effective at all. Has a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to suitably control information recording at a plurality of stages in which information is input from outside and recorded.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is an information input means for inputting information from the outside, a recording means for recording information input by the information input means, and an input by the information input means. First control information input means for inputting restriction information for restricting recording quality when information is recorded on the recording means from the outside, and when the restriction information is input by the first control information input means First determination means for determining whether the operation state of the apparatus is a state of input preparation by the information input means or a state in which information input by the information input means is recorded in the recording means; If the recording means determines that the recording state is present, the recording information is controlled to be discarded when the recording quality is higher than the quality defined by the restriction information, or Is then a first control means for information to be input so as to control the recording quality to be the defining, when said first determination means determines that the state of the input preparation, recording is set Quality And a second control means for controlling to set the recording quality so that recording is performed at the specified quality when the quality is equal to or higher than the quality specified by the restriction information .
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the second control information input means for inputting prohibition information for prohibiting the input of information by the information input means, and the second control information input means. The operation state of the device when the prohibition information is input by the control information input means is an input preparation state by the information input means, or the information input by the information input means is recorded in the recording means A second determination unit for determining whether the state is a state, and a third control unit for controlling to discard the recorded information when the second determination unit determines that the state is the recording state. It is characterized by providing.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the information input means inputs information continuously in time, and the second control information prohibits the input of the information. Including timing information to be started, and when the third control unit determines that the second determination unit is in the recording state, information input before the prohibition is started by the timing information It is characterized in that it is controlled so as to be saved once as a file.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second or third aspect of the present invention, when the second determination means determines that the input is ready, control is performed to notify that recording is prohibited. 4 is further provided.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the light receiving means, the information generating means for generating the control information from the optical signal received by the light receiving means, Is further provided.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the optical signal is a signal accompanied by a time-series luminance change, and the information generating means controls the control based on a luminance change of the signal. It is characterized by generating information.
The invention according to claim 7 is the image according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the image is obtained by forming an image of the opening and the light input through the opening. An information acquisition unit is further provided, wherein the information input unit inputs image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit.
The invention described in claim 8 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 5 , the light receiving means receives light incident from the opening.
The invention according to claim 9 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 8 , further comprising voice information acquisition means for acquiring voice information, wherein the information input means is provided by the voice information acquisition means. The acquired voice information is input.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 10 is the information input means for inputting information from the outside, the recording means for recording the information input by the information input means in the storage unit, the information input Control information input means for inputting, from the outside, restriction information for restricting the recording quality when the information inputted by the means is recorded in the recording means, and when the restriction information is inputted by the control information input means, Judgment means for judging whether the operating state is a state of input preparation by the information input means or a state in which the information inputted by the information input means is recorded in the recording means, and this judgment means records the information If it is determined that the recording quality is higher than the quality defined by the restriction information, control is performed to discard the recorded information. Or, after the first control means so as to control the recording quality is the provision for information input, when said determination means determines that the state of the input preparation, the recording quality is set limits When the quality is not less than the quality defined by the information, it is characterized by functioning as second control means for controlling to set the recording quality so as to record at the defined quality .

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform control such as suitably restricting or prohibiting recording of information at a plurality of stages of inputting and recording information from the outside.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking application to a digital camera as an example. It should be noted that the specific details or examples in the following description and the illustrations of numerical values, character strings, and other symbols are only for reference in order to clarify the idea of the present invention, and the present invention may be used in whole or in part. Obviously, the idea of the invention is not limited. In addition, a well-known technique, a well-known procedure, a well-known architecture, a well-known circuit configuration, and the like (hereinafter, “well-known matter”) are not described in detail, but this is also to simplify the description. Not all or part of the matter is intentionally excluded. Such well-known matters are known to those skilled in the art at the time of filing of the present invention, and are naturally included in the following description.

  FIG. 1 is an overall system configuration diagram of the embodiment. In this figure, a wide variety of books are displayed in the bookstore 1. Normally, a consumer who visits the bookstore 1 checks the contents of a book, takes the book he likes to the cash register and purchases it. The act of taking pictures with a mobile phone may be performed. Although such actions can be avoided by looking around the store, such monitoring activities cannot be continued all the time from the viewpoint of human costs.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, predetermined control information is transmitted by light evenly in an area where photography is prohibited or restricted, and the control information is transmitted to a digital camera, a mobile phone with a camera, or the like existing in the area. When the image pickup apparatus receives the image, the shooting / recording operation of the image pickup apparatus is controlled to one of “recording prohibition”, “restricted recording permission”, and “recording permission” according to the contents of the control information.

  In addition, although the self-photographing action is taken as an example here, the present invention is not limited to this. As explained at the beginning, since the act of recording is also a problem, the meaning of this shooting includes recording.

  Here, the area where photography should be prohibited or restricted is in the bookstore 1 in the illustrated example. It is assumed that the bookstore 1 currently has a plurality of persons 3 to 5 each holding the digital camera 2. For example, the leftmost person 3 holds the digital camera 2 facing the ceiling, the central person 4 holds the digital camera 2 facing the book 6 with the page open, and the rightmost person 5 faces the wall. It is assumed that the digital camera 2 is held facing.

  As will be described in detail later, the digital camera 2 includes an image sensor such as a CCD or CMOS, and a subject is placed on the image pickup surface of the image sensor via an optical system such as a photographing lens housed in the lens barrel 2a. An image is formed, converted into an electric signal, and stored as an image file in a storage device such as a memory (also referred to as recording) (see FIG. 3 and the like). Note that such electronic imaging and recording functions are not limited to the functions of the digital camera 2 alone. For example, this is a function provided in a camera-equipped mobile phone, a camera-equipped personal digital assistant, and the like. Therefore, the digital camera 2 of the embodiment may be replaced with a camera-equipped mobile phone, a camera-equipped portable information terminal, or the like.

  The illustrated digital camera 2 has not only the above-described electronic imaging and recording functions but also a function as a receiving terminal for optical communication such as visible light communication. That is, at a predetermined position in the body of the digital camera 2 (a position where light passing through an optical system such as a photographing lens housed in the lens barrel 2a can reach and a position where the optical path of the image sensor is not blocked) is used for optical communication. The light receiving element 2b is provided. The digital camera 2 converts the control information transmitted using visible light, which will be described below, into an electrical signal by the light receiving element 2b, and then performs decoding processing. According to the decoded control information, the digital camera 2 captures and records The operation is controlled to one of “recording prohibition”, “restricted recording permission”, and “recording permission”. Here, “restricted recording permission” means that some kind of restriction, for example, if an image is set, a certain restriction is imposed on resolution and image quality, and shooting is permitted. This means that recording is permitted with the above restrictions.

  The bookstore 1 is provided with an optical transmission device 7 that transmits the control information limited to a specific area (here, the store). The optical transmission device 7 includes, for example, an interface unit 7a that takes in control information arbitrarily set by a control information setting device 8 such as a personal computer, a control data storage unit 7b that stores the control information, and a stored control A modulation unit 7c that modulates information, and amplifying the modulated signal to illuminate the lighting devices 9a to 9c in the bookstore 1 (for convenience, the ceiling lamps are used. Three lighting devices 9a to 9c are provided. And a drive unit 7d that blinks at a high speed. In addition, although it is set as "blinking" (it repeats lighting and extinction here) here, you may make it change not only this but brightness, for example. That is, high-intensity lighting and low-intensity lighting (or medium-intensity lighting) may be repeated.

  The lighting devices 9a to 9c can be repeatedly turned on and off at a speed that is hardly understood by human eyes. For this reason, the light sources of the lighting devices 9a to 9c have excellent responsiveness. For example, an LED element is used.

  Since the main role of the lighting devices 9a to 9c is in-store lighting, each of the lighting devices 9a to 9c must have a sufficient amount of light that can illuminate its own coverage area with a predetermined illuminance. In many cases, since the light quantity of one LED does not reach the required light quantity, in order to satisfy the required light quantity, for example, it is desirable to arrange a large number of LEDs in an array to form a surface emitting source.

  In addition, it is assumed that the positions of all the lighting devices 9a to 9c are determined under an appropriate lighting arrangement plan. This lighting arrangement plan is that it can illuminate every corner of the store with the necessary and sufficient illuminance, there is no dark part due to shadows of bookshelves and other equipment, and even if outside light enters from the windows and entrances, It is formulated on the condition that an illumination light amount with sufficient brightness not to be defeated by external light can be obtained.

  As described above, the leftmost person 3 in the store has the digital camera 2 facing the ceiling, the central person 4 has the digital camera 2 facing the book 6 with the page open, and the rightmost person Since the person 5 holds the digital camera 2 facing the wall surface, if the power of the digital camera 3 is turned on, the light receiving element 2b of the digital camera 2 of the person 3 on the left side has The direct light P1 from the nearby lighting device 9a is incident, the reflected light P2 from the opened page of the book 6 is incident on the light receiving element 2b of the digital camera 2 of the central person 4, and the rightmost person Reflected light P3 from the wall surface is incident on the light receiving element 2b of the digital camera 2 included in 5. Each digital camera 2 receives the incident light (P1 to P3) by the light receiving element 2b, converts it into an electrical signal, performs a decoding process, and performs shooting and audio recording of the digital camera 2 according to the decoded control information. The recording operation is controlled to one of “recording prohibition”, “restricted recording permission”, and “recording permission”. The actual control will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a format diagram of control information. In this figure, the control information 10 has a structure in which the control content field 11, the control auxiliary information field 12, and the copyright information field 13 are taken as one unit, and the units are repeated endlessly. 10 is repeatedly transmitted from the lighting devices 9a to 9c of the bookstore 1 and superimposed on light and transmitted in one direction.

  As a more detailed lower layer data structure, there are a frame header, a termination code, and the like necessary for the protocol, but the description of the parts related to these protocols is omitted. A specific and detailed format is considered to be transmitted by, for example, 28.8 KHz subcarrier modulation currently proposed by the visible light communication consortium (http://www.vlcc.net). /working/hyoujun_wg.html).

  The three fields of the control content field 11, the control auxiliary information field 12, and the copyright information field 13 are a so-called payload portion of data. This payload part may further include a field of “other information part” as a general optical tag standard. In this case, the field of “other information part” is set as data for an arbitrary information distribution service. May coexist.

  The control content field 11 stores information for defining control at a plurality of levels (recording prohibition, restricted recording permission, recording permission) for a plurality of recording forms (still image recording, moving image recording, audio recording). To do. Details of the control content field 11 will be described later.

  The control auxiliary information field 12 stores a control time zone (for example, 09: 0 to 17:00) in which the control content (recording prohibition, restricted recording permission, recording permission) stored in the control content field 11 is valid. When the control content stored in the control content field 11a and the control content field 11 is "restricted recording permission", the restriction condition field for storing the restriction condition (for example, the recording quality condition) 12b.

  The copyright information field 13 stores copyright information, for example, a copyright owner name, a copyright effective date, a sign (logo etc.) of the copyright owner, and the like. This copyright information is used on the terminal side of the digital camera 2 or the like, for example, as an “electronic watermark” for an image, or used for a copyright display character string or an image imprinting process in the image.

  Next, details of the control content field 11 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the control content field 11 has a fixed length of 6 bits. The 6 bits are divided into 2 bits, and each is divided into a control content field 11a for audio, a control content field 11b for still image, and Used as the moving image control content field 11c.

Each control level (“recording prohibition”, “restricted recording permission”, and “recording permission”) for audio, still images, and moving images is set using a combination of 2 bits. Here, 2 ² = 4 combinations, that is, “00”, “01”, “10”, and “11”, so that “recording prohibited” and “restricted recording permitted” are included in each combination. And “control permission” are assigned three control levels. Since there are four combinations and three control levels, one combination remains, but this embodiment does not use this remaining combination.

The combinations of control levels and 2-bit control contents are as follows.
“00”: recording prohibited “01”: limited recording allowed (only low-quality recording allowed)
“10”: (Not used)
“11”: Recording permission (however, copyright information is added)

  Thus, for example, if “010100” is stored in the control content field 11, the voice is changed to “01”, the still image is changed to “01”, and the moving image is changed to “00”. “Limited recording permission” and “Recording prohibited” for moving images. In addition, the restriction condition of “restricted recording permission” of the sound and the still image at that time follows the restriction condition stored in the restriction condition field 12 b of the control auxiliary information field 12. For example, when information indicating “low quality” is stored in the restriction condition field 12b, recording of audio and still images is permitted only at the designated low quality.

  As described above, according to the control information 10 in FIG. 2, the control levels of audio, still image, and moving image can be collectively specified by the combination of 6 bits in the control content field 11. For example, if “000000” is stored in the control content field 11, recording of all of audio, still images, and moving images can be prohibited. If “110100” is stored, recording of audio is permitted. It is possible to restrict recording for still images and prohibit recording for moving images (not including audio recording). In this case, still images can be recorded, for example, VGA size (lower compression ratio) or less. While permitting in the low quality mode (preferably 160 × 120 dots), it is possible to make a detailed designation that the recording of the moving image itself is permitted while the recording of the moving image is permitted. Note that the above VGA size is merely an example of a low quality image. For example, a small size such as a thumbnail image may be used. In short, it may be of a low quality that can be distributed as a sample (sample) (does not cause the copyright owner's disadvantage).

Next, the digital camera 2 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a cutaway perspective view (a), a side view (b), and a rear view (c) of the main part of the digital camera 2. In these drawings, the digital camera 2 has a lens barrel 2a attached to the front surface of a body 14 having an appropriate shape suitable for holding, a shutter button 15 disposed on the upper surface, and a cursor operation key 16 on the rear surface. And various function keys 17 and 18 and a display unit 19 including a liquid crystal display.

  An electronic substrate 20 is housed inside the body 14, and an imaging device 21 using a two-dimensional image sensor such as a CCD or CMOS is mounted on the electronic substrate 20. Four light receiving elements 2b for optical communication are mounted in contact with the four sides. The center of the image pickup surface 21a of the image pickup device 21 coincides with the optical axis L of the optical system 22 such as a photographic lens housed in the lens barrel 2a, and the image circle of the optical system 22 (image in FIG. 5). The imaging surface 21a of the imaging device 21 is designed to fit in the circle 33), and preferably all the four light receiving devices 2b are designed to fit in the image circle.

  The image circle means a range in which the optical system 22 is in focus when the optical system 22 is at infinity. In order to obtain a good image in which the entire surface is in focus, it is an indispensable condition that the entire image pickup surface 21a of the image pickup device 21 is within the image circle. However, the four light receiving elements 2b do not necessarily fall within the image circle. At least the light passing through the optical system 22 (visible light communication light) may be at a position where it can reach the four light receiving elements 2b. However, the position must not be a position that blocks the incident optical path to the imaging surface 21a of the imaging element 21.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the digital camera 2. In this figure, the digital camera 2 includes an optical system 22, an image sensor 21, a microphone 23, an imaged audio processing unit 24, a display unit 19, a storage unit 25, an operation unit 26, and a speaker 27, and a light receiving element 2b. An optical communication receiving unit 31 including a signal processing / decoding unit 29 and a control information memory 30, and a time measuring unit 32.

  In such a configuration, the subject image that has passed through the optical system 22 is converted into an electrical signal by the imaging device 21, converted into a digital image signal by an ADC (not shown), and then input to the imaging audio processing unit 24. . An audio signal picked up by the microphone 23 is also converted into a digital audio signal by an ADC (not shown) and then input to the imaging audio processing unit 24.

  The imaging audio processing unit 24 is input with various operation signals from the operation unit 26 (mode switching signals such as still image shooting, moving image shooting or audio recording, and shutter signals), and the imaging audio processing unit 24 In the still image or moving image recording mode, the image signal from the image sensor 21 is converted into a composition confirmation through image and output to the display unit 19 prior to the recording. Thereafter, when the shutter button 15 is operated by the photographer, in response to the input of the shutter signal, if still image recording, the image signal from the image sensor 21 is converted into an image file such as JPEG format. In the case of moving image recording, on the other hand, in the case of moving image recording, each image is converted into a moving image file such as an MPEG format while the image signal from the image sensor 21 is taken in time series, and the storage unit 25. Alternatively, in the audio recording mode, the audio signal picked up by the microphone 23 is converted into an audio file of, for example, an MPEG format and stored in the storage unit 25. Note that the timer unit 32 is a circuit unit that always obtains the current time.

  In addition to the still image recording, moving image recording, and audio recording modes described above, the digital camera 2 further includes a mode for appropriately reproducing the recorded data, but since it is not directly related to the present invention, Description is omitted.

  The digital camera 2 of the present embodiment is characterized in that it includes an optical communication receiving unit 31 that functions as a receiving unit for optical communication. As described above, the optical communication receiving unit 31 includes the light receiving element 2b, the signal processing / decoding unit 29, and the control information memory 30.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a preferred arrangement example of the light receiving elements 2 b included in the optical communication receiving unit 31. As shown in this figure, a total of four light receiving elements 2b are provided for each side of the image pickup element 21, and the four light receiving elements 2b are arranged in contact with each side of the image pickup element 21. ing. This is a preferred arrangement. This is because, of course, the image pickup surface 21a of the image pickup device 21 is designed to completely fit inside the image circle 33 of the optical system 22, and the outer shape of the image pickup device 21 is rectangular. Therefore, if the four light receiving elements 2b are arranged in contact with each side of the outline, all of the light receiving elements 2b can be accommodated inside the image circle 33.

  In this way, the presence of the light receiving element 2b does not disturb the optical path of the image pickup element 21, and the focused light in the image circle 33 can be incident on the four optical systems 21. It is preferable because it is possible.

  In addition, about the example of arrangement | positioning of such a light receiving element 2b, if it is the range which the light which passed through the optical system 22 reaches | attains, the position from which the image circle 33 deviated somewhat may be sufficient. However, as the image circle 33 is moved away, the light becomes weaker due to the peripheral dimming of the optical system 22, so it should ideally be inside the image circle 33, or even with some compromise, the image circle It should be at the outer edge of 33 or near the outside of the image circle 33.

  As shown in the figure, the output signals of the four light receiving elements 2 b are added and combined by the combining circuit 34, and the combined signal is output to the signal processing / decoding unit 29. Here, the four light receiving elements 2b are used because one is arranged on each of the four sides of the imaging element 21 as described above. If it is not arranged on the four sides of the image sensor 21, it is not limited to this number (four). Alternatively, if n are arranged on each side, the number is 4n. However, n is an integer of 2 or more.

  As described above, the first advantage of disposing the light receiving element 2b for optical communication near the image pickup element 21 is to prevent fraud. First, with this arrangement, light incident on the light receiving element 2b passes through the same path (optical system 22) as light for photographing and recording (light incident on the image pickup surface 21a of the image pickup element 21). Therefore, it is possible to prevent an illegal act of only taking a picture and recording while avoiding restrictions such as prohibition of recording.

  In other words, in order to perform an illegal act, it is only necessary to prevent the light from entering the light receiving element 2b for optical communication. For this purpose, it is sufficient to hold the hand on the front surface of the optical system 22, but this time, the imaging is performed. Since the light incident on the image pickup surface 21a of the element 21 is also blocked, it becomes impossible to capture and record important points, so that it is possible to reliably prevent such illegal acts. This can be easily understood by imagining that the light receiving element 2b for optical communication is provided exposed on the front surface of the body 14 of the digital camera 2, for example.

  That is, in this case, if the light receiving element 2b is covered with a fingertip or the like, control information such as prohibition of photographing or recording cannot be received. On the other hand, the optical system 22 is not blocked at all. It is possible to escape from restrictions such as prohibition and only perform shooting and recording. As described above, if the light receiving element 2b for optical communication is arranged in the vicinity of the image pickup element 21, such an illegal act can be surely prevented.

  Further, the second advantage of arranging the light receiving element 2b for optical communication near the image pickup element 21 is that the image pickup element 21 and the light receiving element 2b are separately arranged, so that mounting design and design change are easy. is there. That is, since the four sides of the image sensor 21 are usually empty spaces, it is easy to arrange the small light receiving elements 2b in the empty spaces, and no significant design change is required.

Next, the operation of the digital camera 2 of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of an operation program executed in the recording mode of the digital camera 2. In this flow, first, it is determined which recording mode has been selected by the user, and the process branches to a process corresponding to the determination result (step S1). That is, the user has designated a mode for capturing and recording still images (still image recording mode), a mode for recording moving images (moving image recording mode), or recording only audio. It is determined whether a mode (audio recording mode) has been designated, and a still image recording mode process (step S100), a moving image recording mode process (step S200), or an audio recording mode process (step S300) depending on the determination result. Branch to either.

Hereinafter, processing in each recording mode will be described.
<Still image recording mode processing>
7 and 8 are diagrams showing a flow of still image recording mode processing. In this flow, first, it is determined whether or not light accompanied by a luminance change is received (hereinafter also referred to as reception) by the light receiving element 2b for optical communication (step S101). For example, in the example of FIG. 1 described above, it is determined whether incident light (P1 to P3) from the lighting devices 9a to 9b of the bookstore 1 has been received. If it has not been received, it is determined that it is not within the restricted area (for example, the bookstore 1 in FIG. 1), the normal shooting / recording process is executed (step S109), and the flow is exited. The “normal shooting / recording process” is not described in detail here, but in short, in response to the shutter button operation of the digital camera 2, the output signal of the image sensor 21 is captured and an image file is generated from the output signal. A series of a plurality of processes until recording and saving in the storage unit 25. The execution of this “normal shooting / recording process” is not subject to any external restrictions except for shooting inadequate conditions such as underexposure.

  If the determination result in step S101 is “YES”, that is, if light with a change in luminance is received, then the received light is decoded into bit data by the signal processing / decoding unit 29 (step S102). Then, it is determined whether or not the bit data is control information 10 (see FIG. 2) and information including recording control content related to still image shooting (step S103). If the determination result is not “YES”, it is determined that the control information 10 includes the recording control content related to the moving image or the audio recording, the optical communication signal other than the control information 10, or the mere disturbance light. Then, after performing the normal photographing recording process (step S109), the flow is exited.

  If the determination result in step S103 is “YES”, that is, if the decoded bit data is the control information 10 and the information including the recording control content related to still image shooting, then the decoding is performed. The information contained in the control time zone field 12a in the control auxiliary information field 12 thus compared is compared with the current time measured by the time measuring unit 32 (step S104), and whether or not the current time is within the control time zone. Is determined (step S105). For example, if the current time is “12:00” and the control time zone information is “09: 0 to 17:00” (control start is 09:00, end is 17:00), the current time is Since it is within the control timing set by the control time zone, the determination result of step S105 is “YES”. On the other hand, if the current time is “20:00”, the current time is outside the control timing set by the control time zone, so the determination result in step S105 is “NO”. If the determination result is “NO”, it is out of the control time zone. In this case, the designated control is not performed, and the normal shooting and recording process is executed (step S109), and then the flow is exited. .

  If the determination result in step S105 is “YES”, that is, if the current time is at the control timing, the process branches to a process corresponding to the designated control (step S106). In this case, since the designated control is related to “still image recording”, the third bit and the fourth bit of the control content field 11 of the control information 10 (the stored content of the still image control content field 11b) are extracted. The control of “recording prohibition”, “restricted recording permission” or “recording permission” is determined from the combination of these bits. As described above, “recording prohibition” is a combination of “00”, “restricted recording permission” is a combination of “01”, and “recording permission” is a combination of “11”. If “recording prohibition” is determined in step S106, the process branches to a recording prohibition process (step S107). If “recording restriction is permitted” is determined, the process branches to a restricted recording permission process (step S108). Alternatively, when “recording permission” is determined, the normal shooting and recording process is executed (step S109), and then the flow is exited.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flow of recording prohibition processing for still images. In this flow, first, the current operation status of the digital camera 2 is determined (step S107a). The operation status refers to a state in which a plurality of processes related to still image recording of the digital camera 2 (for example, setting of shooting conditions such as exposure and shutter speed or resolution setting of a recorded image by user operation) is being performed (“setting operation in progress”). ), Or a state in which a through image is displayed on the display unit 19 (“monitoring through display”), or a shooting operation is performed by the user, and in accordance with this, a file is created and a storage unit 25 is a state in which recording is being performed (“recording operation in progress”).

  “Recording operation” means “processing to detect that the user has pressed the shutter button”, “processing to extract a signal from the image sensor 21 in response to the shutter operation”, and “imaging audio processing unit 24”. “Process to convert the extracted signal into an image file in JPEG format” and “Process to save and record the converted image file in the storage unit 25” means “recording operation” means It is not limited to only. If the image file can be specified even after the image file has been recorded and saved, it is included in “recording operation” regardless of the passage of time. The meaning of this added item will be clarified by the following description of “recording operation”.

  If it is determined in step S107a that “monitoring through display is in progress”, recording prohibition is displayed on the through screen of the display unit 19 (step S107d), and then the process proceeds to step S107g. The processing content of step S107g will be described later.

  Alternatively, when “setting operation is in progress” is determined in step S107a, all the operation instruction contents are canceled (step S107b), the recording prohibition message is displayed on the display unit 19 (step S107c), and then the process proceeds to step S107g. .

  On the other hand, if “recording operation in progress” is determined in step S107a, the shooting data is discarded (step S107e), and the display unit 19 displays that the shooting is prohibited (step S107f). Here, discarding the shooting data is, in short, canceling the recording operation. Specifically, in the “processing for detecting that the user has pressed the shutter button”, the shutter operation is invalidated, or In the “process for extracting a signal from the image sensor 21 in response to the shutter operation”, the extraction of the signal is stopped, or “the signal extracted by the imaging audio processing unit 24 is converted into an image file such as a JPEG format”. In the “conversion process”, the conversion process is stopped, or in the “process for saving and recording the converted image file in the storage unit 25”, the saving and recording is stopped. In addition, in a stage after the image file is stored and recorded in the storage unit 25, the image file is deleted. This “stage after being saved and recorded” includes all stages where the image file can be specified and deleted regardless of the passage of time, as well as immediately after recording and saving. . This is because, for example, when it is determined that “recording operation is in progress” in step S107a, the last recorded image file in the storage unit 25 is stored even after the image file has already been saved and recorded in the storage unit 25. This is because it can be specified that the image file is related to “recording operation”, and the image file can be designated and deleted.

  FIG. 9A is a diagram showing a display example of recording prohibition in step S107c, step S107d, and step S107f. In this figure, an arbitrary through image 190 and a notification message 191 superimposed in a semi-transparent state on the through image 190 are displayed on the display unit 19 of the digital camera 2. The through image 190 includes, for example, a picture of an arbitrary page of a book sold at the bookstore 1, and a notification message 191 includes a character string (in this case, “in this place” that prohibits the photographing of the book. ”), Marks such as symbols, icons, etc. (here, entry prohibition marks), and a display character string (here,“ XX bookstore ”) such as the administrator name of the recording control area are included. It is.

  FIG. 9B is a diagram showing another display example of recording prohibition in step S107c, step S107d, and step S107f. In this figure, a display image 19 of the digital camera 2 displays a through image 192 and a notification message 192b superimposed on the through image 192 in a semi-transparent state. In the through image 192, for example, the state of the concert venue (here, the singer 192a) is shown, and in the notification message 192b, a character string (in this case, “shooting is prohibited” is prohibited). ") And a display character string such as the manager name of the recording control area (here, the production name" Copyright XX Pro "who is the portrait owner of the singer 192a) is included.

  These recording prohibition displays are continuously performed for a predetermined time. In other words, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the recording prohibition message is displayed on the display unit 19 in step S107c, step S107d, or step S107f (see FIGS. 9A and 9B for display examples) (step S107c). S107g) When it is determined that a predetermined time has elapsed, the recording prohibition display is turned off and the recording mode is terminated (step S107h), and then the flow is exited.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of restricted recording permission for still images. In this flow, first, the current operation status of the digital camera 2 (“setting operation in progress”, “monitoring through display” or “recording operation”) is determined (step S108a). The definition of the operation status is as described above. In other words, “setting operation” refers to a state in which shooting conditions such as exposure and shutter speed are set or resolution of a recorded image is set by a user operation, and “monitoring through display” is displayed. A state in which a through image is displayed on the unit 19, and “recording in progress” is a state in which a shooting operation is performed by the user, and accordingly, the file is recorded and recorded in the storage unit 25. I mean.

  If “monitor through display” is determined in step S108a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is the low quality mode (step S108f), and if not the low quality mode, the predetermined low quality mode is set. Forcibly switching (step S108g), the process proceeds to step S108m. The processing content of step S108m will be described later. Here, the low quality mode means that the image quality is lowered to such an extent that the contents of the image can be understood, for example, a small image of about 160 × 120 dots. Such a small image is also called a so-called thumbnail (a sample image used instead of the original high-quality image). Alternatively, the original high-quality image may be processed to reduce the commercial value without reducing the image size. For example, a character such as “SAMPLE” or a mark may be included in the image, or a part of the image may be specially processed. Such processed images are also in the category of low-quality images.

  If “setting operation” is determined in step S108a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is a low quality mode (step S108b). If not, the same as in step S108g. After forcibly switching to the low quality mode (step S108c) and displaying the setting operation prohibition display on the setting screen (step S108e), the process proceeds to step S108m.

  If “recording in progress” is determined in step S108a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is a low quality mode (step S108h). If it is not the low quality mode, that is, if it is the high quality mode, it is determined that the recording control condition is not met, and the captured data is discarded (or the recorded data is deleted if it is already recorded). (Step S108k), the process proceeds to Step S108m. On the other hand, if the mode is the low quality mode, a low quality image is generated (Step S108i), and the low quality image is filed and stored in the storage unit 25 (Step S108j). Then, the process proceeds to step S108m. Here, as described above, the low-quality image generated in step S108i refers to an image whose image quality is reduced to such an extent that the content can be understood. For example, a small image of about 160 × 120 dots, a character such as “SAMPLE” An image with a large or large mark or an image obtained by specially processing a part of the image. Alternatively, the through image for composition confirmation displayed on the display unit 19 can also be called a low-quality image with a significantly smaller number of dots than the original high-quality image. It may be an image.

  As described above, when processing according to “setting operation in progress”, “monitoring through display” or “recording operation” is executed, the through screen displays that the low quality mode is in effect (step S108m). It is determined whether or not a mode missing operation is detected (step S108n). If the mode is not detected, step S108m and subsequent steps are repeated. If the mode is detected, the recording mode is terminated (step S109p), and the flow is exited.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the low quality mode in step S108m. In this figure, a display image 19 of the digital camera 2 displays a through image 193 and a notification message 193b superimposed on the through image 193 in a semi-transparent state. The through image 193 includes, for example, the state of the concert venue (here, the singer 193a), and the notification message 193b includes a character string (here, “160” indicating that the singer 193a is captured in the low quality mode. * 120 and low-quality shots only. ”) And display character strings such as the manager name of the recording control area (here, the production name“ Copyright XX Pro ”which is the portrait owner of the singer 193a) It is included.

<Movie recording mode processing>
FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating the moving image recording mode process. In this flow, first, it is determined whether or not light accompanying luminance change is received (hereinafter also referred to as reception) by the light receiving element 2b for optical communication (step S201). For example, in the example of FIG. 1 described above, it is determined whether incident light (P1 to P3) from the lighting devices 9a to 9b of the bookstore 1 has been received. If it has not been received, it is determined that it is not within the restricted area (for example, the bookstore 1 in FIG. 1), the normal shooting / recording process is executed (step S209), and the flow is exited. The “normal shooting / recording process” is not described in detail here, but in short, it is periodically performed at a predetermined frame rate (for example, 30 fps) from the image sensor 21 while the shutter button of the digital camera 2 is pressed. Is a series of processes from sequentially fetching output signals output to, generating a moving image file from the output signals, and recording and saving it in the storage unit 25. The execution of this “normal shooting / recording process” is not subject to any external restrictions except for shooting inadequate conditions such as underexposure.

  If the determination result in step S201 is “YES”, that is, if light with a luminance change is received, then the received light is decoded into bit data by the signal processing / decoding unit 29 (step S202). Then, it is determined whether or not the bit data is the control information 10 (see FIG. 2) and the information includes the recording control content related to moving image shooting (step S203). And when the determination result is not “YES”, it is the control information 10 including the recording control content related to the still image and the audio recording, the optical communication signal other than the control information 10 or the mere disturbance light. After the determination and the normal shooting / recording process are executed (step S209), the flow exits.

  If the determination result in step S203 is “YES”, that is, if the decoded bit data is the control information 10 and information including the recording control content related to moving image shooting, then the decoding is performed. The information stored in the control time zone field 12a in the control auxiliary information field 12 is compared with the current time measured by the time counting unit 32 (step S204), and whether or not the current time is within the control time zone. Is determined (step S205). For example, if the current time is “12:00” and the control time zone information is “09: 0 to 17:00” (control start is 09:00, end is 17:00), the current time is Since it is within the control timing set by the control time zone, the determination result of step S205 is “YES”. On the other hand, if the current time is “20:00”, the current time is outside the control timing set by the control time zone, so the determination result in step S205 is “NO”. If the determination result is “NO”, it is out of the control time zone. In this case, the designated control is not performed, and the normal shooting and recording process is executed (step S209), and then the flow is exited. .

  If the determination result in step S205 is “YES”, that is, if the current time is in the recording control time zone, the process branches to a process corresponding to the designated control (step S206). In this case, since the designated control is control related to “moving image recording”, the fifth bit and the sixth bit (stored content of the moving image control content field 11 c) of the control content field 11 of the control information 10 are taken out. From the combination of bits, recording control of “recording prohibition”, “restricted recording permission”, or “recording permission” is determined. As described above, “recording prohibition” is a combination of “00”, “restricted recording permission” is a combination of “01”, and “recording permission” is a combination of “11”. If “recording prohibition” is determined in step S206, the process branches to a recording prohibition process (step S207). If “recording restriction is permitted” is determined, the process branches to a restricted recording permission process (step S208). Alternatively, when “recording permission” is determined, the normal shooting / recording process is executed (step S209), and then the flow exits.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a flow of recording prohibition processing for moving images. In this flow, first, the current operation status of the digital camera 2 is determined (step S207a). In the operation status, “setting operation” means a state in which shooting conditions such as exposure and shutter speed or setting of resolution of a recorded image are set by a user operation, and “monitoring through display” is This means that the through image is being displayed on the display unit 19, and “recording operation” means that the user performs a shooting operation, and accordingly, the file is recorded and recorded in the storage unit 25. It means the state of being.

  If it is determined in step S207a that “monitor through display is being performed”, a message indicating that recording is prohibited is displayed on the through screen of the display unit 19 (step S207d), and then the process proceeds to step S207g. The processing content of step S207g will be described later.

  Alternatively, if “setting operation is in progress” is determined in step S207a, the entire operation instruction content is canceled (step S207b), the recording prohibition is displayed on the display unit 19 (step S207c), and then the process proceeds to step S207g. .

  On the other hand, if “recording operation is in progress” is determined in step S207a, the recording operation is stopped and the display unit 19 displays that photography is prohibited (step S207e), and recording control (in this case, recording is performed). The moving image recorded before the time when (prohibited) becomes valid is filed and stored in the storage unit 25 (step S207f), and then the process proceeds to step S207g.

  The recording prohibition display in step S207c or step S207e is continuously performed for a predetermined time. That is, the passage of the predetermined time is determined (step S207g), and when the passage of the predetermined time is determined, the recording prohibition display is turned off and the recording mode is terminated (step S207h), and the flow is exited.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a flow of restricted recording permission for moving images. In this flow, first, the current operation status of the digital camera 2 (“setting operation in progress”, “monitoring through display” or “recording operation in progress”) is determined (step S208a).

  If it is determined in step S208a that “monitor through display is being performed”, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is a low quality mode (step S208f). Forcibly switching (step S208g), the process proceeds to step S208r. The processing content of step S208r will be described later. Here, the low quality mode means that the image quality is lowered to such an extent that the content of the moving image can be understood, for example, a moving image having a small image size of about 160 × 120 dots. Or you may make it perform the process which reduces a commercial value with respect to an original high quality moving image, without reducing image size. For example, characters or marks such as “SAMPLE” may be included in all the images constituting the moving image or every several frames, or a part of those images may be specially processed. Such processed images are also in the category of low-quality movies.

  If “setting operation” is determined in step S208a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is the low quality mode (step S208b). The mode is forcibly switched to the low quality mode (step S208c), all the operation instruction contents are canceled (step S208d), the setting operation prohibition display is displayed on the setting screen (step S208e), and then the process proceeds to step S208r.

  If “recording in progress” is determined in step S208a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is a low quality mode (step S208h). If it is not the low quality mode, that is, if it is the high image quality mode, it is determined that the recording control condition is not met, the recording operation is temporarily stopped, and the recording mode is forcibly switched to the low quality mode (step S208n). ), The fact that the photographing is restricted is displayed on the display unit 19, and the photographing is resumed and saved as a file (step S208p), and then the recording end is determined (step S208q). If the recording is not finished, step S208p and the subsequent steps are repeated, and if the recording is finished, the process proceeds to step S208r. On the other hand, when the low quality mode is determined in step S208h, a low quality moving image is generated from an image periodically output from the image sensor 21 at a predetermined frame rate (step S208j), and is filed at the same time as recording is continued. The data is stored in the storage unit 25 (step S208k), the end of recording is detected (step S208m), and if not completed, step S208k and subsequent steps are repeated, and if completed, the process proceeds to step S208r.

  As described above, when processing according to “setting operation in progress”, “monitoring through display”, or “recording operation in progress” is executed, next, a low quality mode is displayed on the through screen (step S208r). It is determined whether or not a mode missing operation is detected (step S208s). If the mode is not detected, step S208r and subsequent steps are repeated. If the mode is detected, the recording mode is terminated (step S209t), and the flow is exited.

<Audio recording mode processing>
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a flow of the audio recording mode process. In this flow, first, it is determined whether or not light accompanying luminance change is received (hereinafter also referred to as reception) by the light receiving element 2b for optical communication (step S301). For example, in the example of FIG. 1 described above, it is determined whether incident light (P1 to P3) from the lighting devices 9a to 9b of the bookstore 1 has been received. If it is not received, it is determined that it is not within the restricted area (for example, the bookstore 1 in FIG. 1), the normal voice recording process is executed (step S309), and the flow is exited. The “normal audio recording process” is not described in detail here, but in short, the digital camera 2 is set in the audio recording mode and the recording button is turned on for a predetermined time, or while the shutter button is pressed. This means a series of processes from making the sound picked up by the microphone 23 into an audio file and recording and saving it in the storage unit 25.

  If the determination result in step S301 is “YES”, that is, if light with a luminance change is received, then the received light is decoded into bit data by the signal processing / decoding unit 29 (step S302). Then, it is determined whether or not the bit data is the control information 10 (see FIG. 2) and includes the recording control content related to the audio recording (step S303). And when the determination result is not “YES”, it is the control information 10 including the recording control content related to the still image and the moving image recording, the optical communication signal other than the control information 10 or the mere disturbance light. After the determination and normal voice recording processing is executed (step S309), the flow is exited.

  If the determination result in step S303 is “YES”, that is, if the decoded bit data is the control information 10 and information including the recording control content related to the audio recording, the decoding is performed next. The information contained in the control time zone field 12a in the control auxiliary information field 12 is compared with the current time measured by the time counting unit 32 (step S304), and whether or not the current time is within the control time zone. Is determined (step S305). For example, if the current time is “12:00” and the control time zone information is “09: 0 to 17:00” (control start is 09:00, end is 17:00), the current time is Since it is within the control timing set by the control time zone, the determination result of step S305 is “YES”. On the other hand, if the current time is “20:00”, the current time is outside the control timing set by the control time zone, so the determination result in step S305 is “NO”. If the determination result is “NO”, it is out of the control time zone. In this case, the designated control is not performed and normal voice recording processing is executed (step S309), and then the flow is exited. .

  If the determination result in step S305 is “YES”, that is, if the current time is in the control time zone, the process branches to a process corresponding to the designated control (step S206). In this case, since the designated control is a recording control related to “audio recording”, the first bit and the second bit (the contents stored in the audio control content field 11a) of the control content field 11 of the control information 10 are extracted, Based on the combination of these bits, the recording control of “recording prohibition”, “restricted recording permission” or “recording permission” is determined. As described above, “recording prohibition” is a combination of “00”, “restricted recording permission” is a combination of “01”, and “recording permission” is a combination of “11”. If "recording prohibition" is determined in step S306, the process branches to a recording prohibition process (step S307), and if "recording restriction is permitted", the process branches to a restricted recording permission process (step S308). Alternatively, when “recording permission” is determined, normal voice recording processing is executed (step S309), and then the flow is exited.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a flow of recording prohibition processing for audio. In this flow, first, the current operation status of the digital camera 2 is determined (step S307a). The operation status means that the user is operating the digital camera 2 to perform various user setting processes (for example, setting of volume, sound quality, etc.) related to audio recording (“setting operation in progress”), Or, whether the recording is waiting for recording by pressing a pause button or the like ("Preparing for recording"), or the recording operation is being performed by the user ("Recording in progress") And so on.

  If “recording preparation is in progress” is determined in step S307a, a message indicating that recording is prohibited is displayed on the screen of the display unit 19 (step S307d), and then the process proceeds to step S307g. The processing content of step S307g will be described later.

  Alternatively, when “setting operation is in progress” is determined in step S307a, all the operation instruction contents are canceled (step S307b), the recording prohibition is displayed on the display unit 19 (step S307c), and then the process proceeds to step S207g. .

  On the other hand, when “recording operation is in progress” is determined in step S307a, the recording operation is stopped and the display unit 19 displays that recording is prohibited (step S307e), and recording control (in this case, recording is performed). The voice recorded before the time when the prohibition becomes valid is filed and stored in the storage unit 25 (step S307f), and then the process proceeds to step S307g.

  The recording prohibition display in step S307c or step S307e is continuously performed for a predetermined time. That is, it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed (step S307g). If the predetermined time has elapsed, the recording prohibition display is erased and the recording mode is terminated (step S307h), and then the flow is exited.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a flow of restricted recording permission for voice. In this flow, first, the current operation status (“setting operation”, “recording preparation” or “recording operation”) of the digital camera 2 is determined (step S308a).

  If “recording preparation is in progress” is determined in step S308a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is a low quality mode (step S308f). (Step S308g) and the process proceeds to step S308g. The processing content of step S308g will be described later. Here, the low quality mode means that the sound quality is lowered to such an extent that the meaning of the voice can be understood, and for example, a low sampling rate such as 128 kbps is applied. Alternatively, the sound quality may be reduced by narrowing the bandwidth or cutting an arbitrary sound range.

  If “setting operation” is determined in step S308a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is the low quality mode (step S308b). If not, the same as in step S308g. The mode is forcibly switched to the low quality mode (step S308c), all the operation instruction contents are canceled (step S308d), the setting operation prohibition display is displayed on the setting screen (step S308e), and then the process proceeds to step S208g.

  If “recording in progress” is determined in step S308a, it is determined whether or not the current recording mode is a low quality mode (step S308h). If it is not the low quality mode, that is, if it is the high sound quality mode, it is determined that the recording control condition is not met, the recording operation is temporarily stopped, and the recording mode is forcibly switched to the low quality mode (step S308m). ), The fact that the recording is restricted is displayed on the display unit 19, and the recording is resumed, filed and saved (step S308n), and then the recording end is determined (step S308p). If the recording is not finished, step S308n and subsequent steps are repeated, and if the recording is finished, the process proceeds to step S308g. On the other hand, if the low quality mode is determined in step S308h, the low quality voice is generated from the voice picked up by the microphone 23 (step S308i), and the file is saved and stored in the storage unit 25 at the same time as the recording is continued (step S308j). When the recording end is detected (step S308k), if not completed, step S308j and subsequent steps are repeated, and if completed, the process proceeds to step S308g.

  As described above, when processing corresponding to “setting operation in progress”, “monitoring through display”, or “recording operation in progress” is executed, the display unit 19 displays that the low quality mode is in effect (step S308g). Then, the mode missing operation detection is determined (step S308r). If the mode is not detected, step S308g and subsequent steps are repeated. If the mode is detected, the recording mode is terminated (step S308s), and the flow is exited.

Since it comprised as mentioned above, the following effects are acquired in this embodiment.
(1) Since the illumination light source (illuminating devices 9a to 9c) that illuminates the entire area within the restricted area (see the bookstore 1 in FIG. 1) is used, the control information is transmitted by optical communication. Regardless of where the camera 2 is located in the restricted area, the digital camera 2 can receive the control information without any trouble, and the blind spot in the restricted area can be eliminated.
(2) Since the light receiving element 2b for optical communication is arranged so as to be within the image circle 33 of the optical system 22, the light receiving range of the light receiving element 2b and the imaging field angle of the optical system 22 can be made to substantially coincide with each other. The reception performance of control information can be improved.
(3) Since the light receiving element 2b for optical communication is arranged in the part of the image circle 33 of the optical system 22 that has become an empty space, that is, the empty space part in contact with the four sides of the image sensor 21, the light receiving element 2b There are no obstacles to mounting and design changes can be easily performed.
(4) Moreover, by arranging as in (3), if the light to the light receiving element 2b is to be blocked, the light to the image sensor 21 is also blocked at the same time. It is possible to reliably prevent an illegal act of preventing the reception.
(5) Since a plurality of light receiving elements 2b for optical communication are provided, the light receiving sensitivity is improved, and optical communication using relatively dark light can be handled without any problem.
(6) Since the data structure (see FIG. 2) can be set for each recording type such as “still image”, “sound”, and “moving image”, specify the control desired by the management of the restricted area in detail. Can do. For example, in an entertainment show or the like, it is possible to flexibly respond to fine requests such as permitting still image shooting, but not allowing moving images that show movement, or permitting only low-quality audio recording.
(7) Optical communication comprising the light receiving element 2b, the signal processing / decoding unit 29, and the control information memory 30 separately from the original camera function part of the digital camera 2 (the camera unit 28 comprising the optical system 22 to the operation unit 26). Since the receiving unit 31 is provided, it can be easily applied to an existing digital camera, a mobile phone with a camera, a mobile information terminal with a camera, or the like without requiring a significant design change.
(8) When recording prohibition is designated, an image being shot is immediately discarded, or if it has been recorded in the storage unit 25, the recorded image is quickly deleted, so that illegal shooting Can be surely prohibited, and illegal images that have already been taken are not distributed.
(9) Also, for example, when entering a restricted area for which shooting is prohibited during movie shooting, movie shooting is stopped immediately upon entering the control area. Shooting can be definitely prohibited.

  In the above-described embodiment, the light receiving element 2b for optical communication is disposed in contact with each side of the imaging element 21, but the present invention is not limited to this. In short, any position that is exposed to light that has passed through the optical system 22 and that does not hinder incident light on the image sensor 21 may be used. For example, the position may be as follows.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram showing another layout position of the light receiving element 2b. In this figure, the light receiving element 2b is located inside the lens barrel 2a, and more specifically, the light receiving surface is forward (in the drawing) at a position off the optical path 41 that enters the image pickup element 21 through the photographing lens 40. (Left direction) This place is, for example, the edge front surface of the aperture blade 42. Even in this case, the light passing through the photographic lens 40 reaches the light receiving element 2b located outside the optical path 41, so that the control information can be received by the light receiving element 2b without any trouble. In addition, even in such a position, if the light to the light receiving element 2b is to be blocked, the light to the imaging element 21 (the optical path 41) is also blocked at the same time, so control information is not intentionally received. The illegal act of doing so can be surely eliminated.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram showing still another layout position of the light receiving element 2b. In this figure, the light receiving element 2b is located inside the lens barrel 2a. Specifically, the light receiving surface is placed at a place off the optical path 41 incident on the image pickup element 21 through the photographing lens 40 and the photographing lens 40. It is located toward the optical axis L. The direction of the light receiving element 2b is different from the above layout position. This place is, for example, the edge front surface of the aperture blade 42. Even in this case, the light passing through the photographic lens 40 reaches the light receiving element 2b located outside the optical path 41, so that the control information can be received by the light receiving element 2b without any trouble. In addition, even in such a position, if the light to the light receiving element 2b is to be blocked, the light to the imaging element 21 (the optical path 41) is also blocked at the same time, so control information is not intentionally received. The illegal act of doing so can be surely eliminated.

  In the case of the layout position shown in FIG. 18 or FIG. 19, the light receiving element 2b is laid out together with the image pickup element 21 on the electronic substrate 20 as in the above-described embodiment because it is mounted inside the lens barrel 2a. Compared to the above, there is a merit that there is less interference with other electronic components and there is no trouble in mounting.

1 is an overall system configuration diagram of an embodiment. It is a format figure of control information. FIG. 2 is a perspective view (a), a side view (b), and a rear view (c) of a principal part of the digital camera 2; 2 is a block diagram of the digital camera 2. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a preferred arrangement example of light receiving elements 2b included in the optical communication receiver 31. FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of the operation program performed in the recording mode of the digital camera. It is a figure which shows the flow of a still image recording mode process. It is a figure which shows the flow of the recording prohibition process for still images. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of recording prohibition. It is a figure which shows the flow of restricted recording permission for still images. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of low quality mode. It is a figure which shows the flow of a moving image recording mode process. It is a figure which shows the flow of the recording prohibition process for moving images. It is a figure which shows the flow of restricted recording permission for moving images. It is a figure which shows the flow of an audio | voice recording mode process. It is a figure which shows the flow of the recording prohibition process for audio | voices. It is a figure which shows the flow of restricted recording permission for audio | voices. It is a figure which shows the other layout position of the light receiving element 2b. It is a figure which shows the other layout position of the light receiving element 2b.

Explanation of symbols

2 Digital Camera 2b Light Receiving Element 10 Control Information 11 Control Content Field 12 Control Auxiliary Information Field 12a Control Time Zone Field 19 Display Unit 21 Image Sensor 22 Optical System 23 Microphone 24 Imaging Audio Processing Unit 25 Storage Unit 29 Signal Processing / Decoding Unit 32 Timekeeping Part P1-P3 Incident light

Claims (10)

Information input means for inputting information from outside;
Recording means for recording the information input by the information input means;
First control information input means for inputting restriction information for restricting recording quality when recording information input by the information input means to the recording means;
The operation state of the apparatus when the restriction information is input by the first control information input means is an input preparation state by the information input means, or information input by the information input means is stored in the recording means. First judging means for judging whether or not the recording state;
When the first determination means determines that the recording state, when the recording quality is equal to or higher than the quality specified by the restriction information, control to discard the recorded information, or The first control means for controlling the information input thereafter to record at the specified quality;
When the first determining means determines that the input is ready, when the set recording quality is equal to or higher than the quality specified by the restriction information, the recording quality is set so as to record at the specified quality. Second control means for controlling to set;
An information recording apparatus comprising: Second control information input means for inputting prohibition information for prohibiting input of information by the information input means;
The operation state of the device when the prohibition information is input by the second control information input means is an input preparation state by the information input means, or the information input by the information input means is stored in the recording means. A second judging means for judging whether or not the recording state;
When the second determination means determines that the recording state, the third control means for controlling to discard the recorded information;
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The information input means inputs information continuously in time, and the second control information includes timing information for starting prohibiting the input of the information,
When the third control means determines that the second determination means is in the recording state, the information input before the prohibition is started based on the timing information is once stored in a file. The information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the information recording apparatus is controlled. 4. The information recording according to claim 2, further comprising a fourth control unit that controls to notify that recording is prohibited when the second determination unit determines that the input is ready. 5. apparatus. A light receiving means;
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an information generating unit that generates the control information from an optical signal received by the light receiving unit . The optical signal is a signal with a time-series luminance change,
The information recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information generation unit generates the control information from a change in luminance of the signal . An opening,
Image information acquisition means for acquiring image information by forming an image of light input through the opening,
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information input unit inputs the image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit . The information recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the light receiving unit receives light incident from the opening . A voice information acquisition means for acquiring voice information;
9. The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information input unit inputs the voice information acquired by the voice information acquisition unit . Computer
Information input means for inputting information from outside,
Recording means for recording the information input by the information input means in the storage unit;
Control information input means for inputting, from the outside, restriction information for restricting the recording quality when the information inputted by the information input means is recorded in the recording means;
The operating state of the computer when the restriction information is input by the control information input means is an input preparation state by the information input means, or the information input by the information input means is recorded in the recording means. Means for judging whether or not
If the determination means determines that the recording state is present, if the recording quality is higher than the quality specified by the restriction information, the recording information is controlled to be discarded or inputted thereafter. First control means for controlling the recording to be performed with the prescribed quality,
When the determination means determines that the input preparation state is satisfied, the recording quality is set so that recording is performed at the specified quality when the set recording quality is equal to or higher than the quality specified by the restriction information. Second control means for controlling,
An information recording control program which functions as

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