JPH02208779A - Image data reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute an effective utilization with a general processing system by providing an interface to be connectable to the general purpose processing system and containing an interface means to transfer image data stored in a temporary storing means to the processing system. CONSTITUTION:To an output 18 of a memory card interface 16, a frame memory 20 is connected. A personal computer interface 24 is equipped with an attachable and detachable connector 26, and the interface connectable to the general processing system such as the personal computer is provided. Consequently, a reproducing device 10 is connected with a bus interface 52 of a personal computer 50, and digital data can be transferred between both. Further, the bus interface 52 of the personal computer 50 has a converting circuit 64 to convert the image data format of a memory card 12 to the other data format to be easily managed with the software of the personal computer 50, for example, RGB type data. Thus, the processing is made high-speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image data reproducing device, for example, a reproducing device that interfaces image data recorded in a module type memory such as a memory card to a general-purpose processing system such as a personal computer.

A digital electronic still camera has been proposed that stores images captured by an imaging device in the form of digital data in a semiconductor storage device such as a RAM memory card. See, for example, the applicant's pending patent application, Japanese Patent Application No. 62-270387.

Images taken with a digital electronic still camera can be played back on a video monitor or printer by removing the memory card storing the image data from the camera and loading it into a playback device. Such a reproducing device is described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-124384 and in the applicant's pending patent application, Japanese Patent Application No. 82-213058. ,.

Also, patent application Sho σ3-232511 filed by the present applicant
A digital electronic still camera connects a memory card that records image data using a digital electronic still camera, reads out the image data, digitally processes the signal, obtains standard format image data, and displays the image on a monitor. A camera playback device has been proposed. This reproducing device reproduces and visually displays high-quality still images from digital image data using a single system.

Incidentally, like other systems, digital electronic still camera systems are also required to be compatible with various types of processing systems. For example, if the device has an interface with a general-purpose processing system such as a personal computer, image data can be freely processed by those processing systems and their resources can be used effectively. The above-mentioned conventional playback devices place emphasis on the function of playing back images on a monitor, and therefore naturally emphasize the function of playing back high-quality images on the monitor in real time. For this purpose, the playback machine has been equipped with hardware and software that performs fairly advanced image processing as an internal function, and a personal computer interface is only provided as an auxiliary function. Therefore, the configuration of the entire device was complicated and expensive.

These internal functions of the playback machine can also be effectively implemented in processing systems such as personal computers and office computers. At present, the spread of these processing systems is remarkable, and it is wasteful not to use these resources effectively even in digital electronic still camera systems. There is a need for an image data reproducing device that can effectively utilize the included image processing and other functions.

OBJECTS In view of these demands, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image data reproducing device that can be effectively used in a general-purpose processing system.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION An image data reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes: a temporary storage means for accumulating image data; an input means for receiving image data and accumulating it in the temporary storage means; a signal conversion means for converting the image into an analog signal; a video monitor means for visually displaying an image represented by the analog signal; The image processing apparatus includes an image processing means for outputting image data to the processing means, and an interface means that has an interface connectable to a general-purpose processing system and transfers image data stored in the temporary storage means to the processing system.

According to the present invention, the present invention also includes such an image data reproducing device and a general-purpose processing system, and the processing system includes:
An image data reproducing system is provided which includes an image processing means for receiving image data stored therein from a temporary storage means and performing image processing.

According to the present invention, in the image data reproduction system, the processing system includes a conversion circuit that converts image data received from the interface means into a data format suitable for image processing.

Note that in this specification, the term "memory card" includes a semiconductor storage device in which a semiconductor storage device is mounted on a generally flat rectangular card-like support, and the term "modular memory" includes not only a memory card but also , including storage devices that are removably connected to other devices.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, the image data reproducing apparatus lO of the embodiment is configured to generate images in a predetermined format, for example, a standard format for digital electronic still camera systems, from an image data source such as a digital electronic still camera 80 (FIG. 2). 0 is an image reproducing device that reads data from a storage device such as a memory card 12 in which data is stored, transfers it to a commonly available general-purpose processing system such as a personal computer 50, and reproduces it on a simple color monitor 14. The memory card 12 applied to the image data reproducing apparatus 10 is a storage device in which a semiconductor memory device such as a RAM is carried on a card-like base, and is removably loaded into the memory card interface 16.

A frame memory 20 is connected to the output 18 of the memory card interface 18 . The frame memory 20 is a temporary storage device including a RAM having a storage capacity capable of storing image data for one frame. Its data readout output 22 is connected to a personal computer interface 24. The personal computer interface 24 includes a detachable connector 26 and has an interface connectable to a general-purpose processing system such as a personal computer. This allows the playback device 10 to connect to the bus interface 5 of the personal computer 50.
2, and digital data can be transferred between the two.

The frame memory 20 also has a further read output 28 which is connected in parallel to the standard TV signal rate, in this example 1.
At 4.3M+ps, image data is converted into digital/analog (
OA) is output to the converter 30. The video timing signal for this readout is supplied to the frame memory 20 from a synchronizing signal generation circuit (not shown) of the digital/analog converter 30, and image data is read out in real time.

The digital Φ analog converter 30 is a signal conversion circuit that converts the image data input from the input 28 into a corresponding analog signal and outputs it to the output 32. For this conversion, the converter 48 has the synchronization signal generation circuit described below.

An output 32 of the OA converter 30 is connected to an analog video processing circuit 34. In this embodiment, the video processing circuit 34 is a signal processing circuit that performs video signal processing such as white balance adjustment and gradation (γ) correction on the image data read from the memory card 12 and outputs the result to an output 36. It is. Output 36 is connected to color monitor 14.

Image data is stored in the memory card 12 by, for example, a digital electronic still camera 80. This image data is generally in the form of color separation signals specific to the segmented arrangement of color filters used in the imaging device of the camera that took the image, for example in the form of three primary color signals RGB, or in the form of digital luminance/color difference signals. It uses a signal format common to electronic still camera systems. These image data generally exhibit, for example, gradation characteristics depending on the sensitivity characteristics of the imaging device, and exhibit a color temperature depending on the illumination light for the object scene. The video processing circuit 34 adjusts these gradation characteristics and color temperature to a gradation and white balance suitable for display on the color monitor 14. Therefore, it is sufficient for this adjustment to be rough enough to allow viewing of the displayed image on the monitor 14. In other words, since the color monitor 14 only needs to have a simple function that allows the scene of the image to be reproduced to be visually recognized, it is not required to display images of very high quality.Therefore, in this embodiment, the video processing circuit 34
Analog processing is performed to a sufficient degree with the simple gradation correction and white balance adjustment that were performed with conventional simple CCD video cameras.

This simplifies the circuit configuration.

A signal from output 36 of analog video processing circuit 34 is provided to video monitor 16 . The video monitor 16 has an input 38
For example, a color video monitor such as a CRT, which visualizes the video signal and displays it as a color image, is advantageously applied.

Memory card interface 16 and frame memory 20 are controlled by system control circuit 38. The system control circuit 38 constitutes a main control section that controls writing and reading of the frame memory 20, and is preferably realized by a microprocessor. An operating section 40 is also connected to the control circuit 38, and the operating section 40 has an interface function for inputting instructions from the operator and displaying the status of the device 10 to the operator. The instruction input from the operation unit 40 includes, for example, information specifying the frame of the image to be reproduced.

A general-purpose processing system such as the personal computer 50, a commonly available personal computer, is advantageously applied. The connector 2B of the playback device IO is connected to the bus interface 52 thereof. The personal computer 5° is advantageously equipped in its memory 58 with a program for carrying out advanced image signal processing such as that carried out in the electronic still camera reproduction apparatus described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. Ei3-232511.

The memory 58 includes a RAM which is also used as a storage area when executing such programs and a work area for processing image data.The CPIJ 54 of the personal computer 50 performs highly accurate gradation correction by the program in the memory 58. performs image processing such as self-balancing and self-balancing, and converts it into a predetermined data format, for example a standard data format for digital electronic still camera systems, and stores it on file storage devices such as floppy disks, fixed disks and/or optical disks. It has image data processing functions such as storing it in the 5B and reading it out. The personal computer 50 further includes functions for displaying these images on its display 80 (FIG. 2) and outputting them to an input/output device 62 such as a printer or a communication line. 50 also includes a keyboard for inputting instructions and data. Such data processing functions are realized by programs stored in the memory 58 under the control of the CPU 54. Therefore, although the processing requires some time, advanced processing can be performed and high-quality images can be obtained.

Furthermore, the bus interface 52 of the personal computer 50 converts the image data format of the memory card 12 into the personal computer 5.
Other data formats that are easy to handle with 0 software, such as RG
It has a conversion circuit 64 for converting into B-type data. This conversion circuit 64 is mounted, for example, on a spare board, and
As illustrated in the figure, it is inserted into the spare board slot 68 of the main body of the personal computer 50. This reduces the load on the image processing software of the personal computer 50 and speeds up the processing.

In the non-embodiment, image data recorded on the memory card 12 is read into the frame memory 20 via the memory card interface 1B under the control of the system control circuit 38. When the memory card 12 is loaded into the playback device IO (step 100 in FIG. 3), it is mechanically and circuitically connected to the interface 1B. Operation unit 40
When instructed to read image data from the memory card 1B, the system control circuit 38 reads one frame of image data stored in the RAM of the memory card 1B and transfers it to the frame memory 20 (101). The image data stored in the frame memory 20 is read out from the memory 20 to the OA converter 30 under the control of the system control unit 20 and converted into an analog signal. This analog video signal is input to the analog video processing circuit 34 and undergoes video signal processing such as white balance adjustment and gradation correction, and the image it represents is visually displayed on the color monitor 14 (10
2).

The operator looks at the image displayed on the monitor 14 and, if it is a desired image (103), operates the input/output device 82 of the personal computer 50 to input an instruction for data transfer to the personal computer 50, for example. . In response to this, the CPU 54
CP receives the image data read out from the frame memory 20 and stores it in the memory 58 (105);
o 58 performs the aforementioned image processing, such as white balance adjustment and gradation correction, on this image data under the control of the image processing program stored in the memory 58 (10B)
. The image data that has been subjected to these image processing is also. In response to instructions input from the input/output device 62, the image is read out from the memory 58, stored as an image file in the file storage device 56 such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, or output to the input/output device 82 such as a communication line or printer. be done.

When the image processing by the personal computer 50 is completed, this is notified to the playback device IO, and if the intended image operation has been completed, an instruction to end the operation is input from the operation unit 40.

In response to this, the system control circuit 38 controls the memory interface 1B and ejects the memory card 12 (
108), when the next bump instruction is input from the operation unit 40, the system control circuit 38 reads the image data from the memory card IB and stores it in the frame memory 2.
0 (104), and similarly, step 102
Repeat the following operations.

As described above, according to the present invention, the main signal path of the image data reproducing device of the digital electronic still camera system has a digital interface compatible with a processing system such as a personal computer.

It also has a simple monitor output for checking the image data obtained from the memory card. As a result, image processing can be performed by effectively utilizing a commonly available processing system, and the configuration of the playback device itself can be simplified. Also,
When the interface unit with the processing system includes hardware for converting image data, the load on the software of the processing system is reduced and high-speed image processing is realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of an image data reproducing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory external view showing the appearance of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an implementation of the same embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an operational flow of image processing in an example. Main part number explanation 1O6 12°14°18°20°24°34°38°40°50°52°54°64° Image data reproducing device Memory card Color monitor Memory card interface Frame memory Personal computer interface Analog video processing circuit System control circuit operation unit PC bus interface PU Conversion circuit Patent applicant Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. Representative Person number Takao Kazan Takao

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Temporary storage means for accumulating image data; input means for receiving image data and accumulating it in the temporary storage means; a signal converter for converting into a signal; a video monitor for visually displaying an image represented by the analog signal; and a video monitor that performs video processing suitable for the video monitor on the analog signal converted by the signal converter to display the video. It is characterized by comprising: a video processing means for outputting to a monitor means; and an interface means that has an interface connectable to a general-purpose processing system and that transfers image data stored in the temporary storage means to the processing system. Image data reproducing device. 2. The image data reproducing device according to claim 1 and the processing system are included, and the processing system is characterized by having image processing means for receiving the image data from the interface means and performing image processing on the image data. Image data playback system. 3. The image data reproducing system according to claim 2, wherein the processing system includes a conversion circuit that converts image data received from the interface means into a data format suitable for the image processing.