JPH0690423A - Electronic still camera and picture record managing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the number of frames which can be continuously photographed at a time by recording the photographed picture, which is written in the first storage area of an intermediate memory means, in a recording medium through the second storage area of the intermediate memory means at the time of continuous photographing to effectively use the intermediate memory means without much reducing the continuous photographing speed. CONSTITUTION:A memory 20 is used as the intermediate memory means; and when a releasing switch 32 is operated, an image pickup element 14 is exposed to light, and the photographed picture is stored in the free areas out of areas #1 to #8 of the memory 20 in order. That is, picture data obtained by continuous photographing are first successively stored in areas #1 to #8 of the memory 20. These data are copied to areas #9 to #12 in the intervals of continuous photographing at every one third, and the storage area of the copy source is released for the next photographed picture when data by one screen are copied. Thus, areas #9 to #12 which are not used in a conventional method are used as what is called buffer for the transfer of picture data stored in areas #1 to #8 to a hard disk device 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic still camera having an image pickup device for converting an optical image into an electric signal. The present invention also relates to a management method for recording image information on a large-capacity recording medium such as a hard disk device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic still camera has adopted an analog recording system. However, practical use of a large-capacity digital recording medium (hard disk device, magneto-optical disk, flash memory, etc.) and deterioration of image quality. Can be copied without
With the improvement of the processing capacity of computers, the digital recording system has come to be adopted, and is attracting attention as a still image input means for computers.

In an electronic still camera, the writing speed to a recording medium is usually slower than the processing speed of a picked-up image signal. Therefore, an intermediate memory means for absorbing the speed difference between the two is provided in the preceding stage of a hard disk device. It is normal that A FIFO (first in, first out) memory may be used as such an intermediate memory means, but a random access memory is generally used since it may be used for image processing such as image compression and video effects.

By increasing the number of screens that can be simultaneously stored in the intermediate memory means, the photographing speed can be increased. For example, when the captured image has 640 horizontal pixels and 480 vertical pixels (lines), the logical storage is 640 or more in the horizontal direction and 480 × k (k is the number of screens that can be stored simultaneously) in the vertical direction. It is necessary to have an area. To secure more than 640 pixels in the horizontal direction, the horizontal address is 10
Bit needed.

[0005]

If the horizontal address is 10 bits, 1,024 pixels can be secured in the horizontal direction, and 384 pixels are wasted. Since this is accumulated for the number of pixels in the vertical direction, there is a considerable amount of unused portion.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic still camera which does not cause such waste.

When a hard disk device is used as a recording medium, the data storage format used when it is used as an auxiliary storage device of a computer is used, which is inconvenient for image recording. That is, in the conventional electronic still camera of the digital recording system, the entire recording area of the hard disk device is divided into an information data area and a management data area, and the information data is divided into units called clusters and recorded in the information data area. However, the usage status of the information data area is recorded in the management data area.

Such a recording method is convenient for recording information of various sizes, but when handling only fixed-size information such as image data, it should be managed more than necessary. This not only makes it inconvenient but also increases the time required for recording, which hinders, for example, an increase in continuous shooting speed.

Fragmentation occurs due to repeated recording and erasing, and new image data cannot be recorded in continuous areas. This also hinders the speed of continuous shooting.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording method which does not cause such an inconvenience.

[0011]

An electronic still camera according to the present invention is an electronic still camera having an intermediate memory means for temporarily storing a photographed image before recording it on a recording medium. However, a first storage area that can store a plurality of captured images and is substantially fast to access,
A second storage area that can store one or more images and that is substantially slow to access is provided, and the captured image written in the first storage area of the intermediate memory means at the time of continuous shooting is stored in the intermediate memory means. The recording is performed on the recording medium via the second storage area.

In the image recording management method according to the present invention, the information recording area of the recording medium is divided into recording areas of a certain size that match the image size to be recorded, and the image information is recorded in units of the recording area. It is characterized by managing.

[0013]

By the above means, the photographed image is first stored in the first area in the intermediate memory means, and is recorded on the recording medium through the second area. This makes it possible to effectively use the second area that has not been used in the intermediate memory means.

Further, by dividing the recording medium into a recording area of a fixed size suitable for the image size to be recorded and managing the recording of the image information in units of the recording area, the image information is recorded at a relatively high speed. become able to.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a taking lens, 12 is a shutter, 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes an image sensor for converting an optical image into an electric signal, 16 denotes a process circuit for performing well-known camera signal processing such as γ correction, color balance adjustment, and brightness / color difference conversion on the output of the image sensor 14.
Reference numeral 18 is an A / D conversion circuit for converting the analog output of the process circuit 16 into a digital signal.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a memory as an intermediate memory means. In the present embodiment, a memory having a logical address configuration as shown in FIG. 2 can store 12 screens of image data of 640 pixels × 480 pixels for one screen. It is equipped with. That is,
As shown in FIG. 2, the memory 20 logically has a storage capacity of 960 pixels in the horizontal direction and 3,840 (= 480 × 8) pixels in the vertical direction. The entire storage area is divided into 12 areas as shown in FIG. 2, and each area has 640 pixels × 480 pixels.
Image data of pixels can be stored.

In the areas # 1 to # 8, the horizontal address and the vertical address are equal to the horizontal pixel number and the vertical pixel number of the photographed image, and the address for writing the photographed image data can be determined easily and quickly. , The shooting speed can be increased. The areas # 9 to # 12 are areas not used in the conventional example, and this area is also effectively used in the present embodiment.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a hardware for recording photographed image data.
A disk device, 24 is a digital interface for digitally outputting image data to, for example, an external computer, and 26 is a memory control circuit for controlling writing and reading of the memory 20 and image data output via the digital interface 24. is there.

Reference numeral 28 is a system control circuit for controlling the whole, and comprises a memory (RAM) 29 for storing control variables. Reference numeral 30 is a clock generation circuit that supplies a timing clock to the image sensor 14, the A / D converter 18, and the system control circuit 28. A release switch 32 supplies a release signal to the system control circuit 28 when it is closed.

As the recording medium for recording the photographed image, in addition to the hard disk device, an optical disk driving device, a magneto-optical disk driving device, a flash memory, an EEPROM or a battery backed up DRA.
A solid-state memory device composed of M or the like can be used. A memory card formed into a card shape is known as a solid-state memory device.

First, with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the recording operation at the time of individual photographing will be described. In addition,
Here, it is assumed that one screen is composed of 640 pixels × 480 pixels as described above, and the A / D converter 18 quantizes one pixel into 8 bits. In addition, 1 of the hard disk device 22
It is assumed that the sector has 512 bytes. Therefore, one screen of image data can be recorded with 600 sectors. In FIG. 3, a variable m indicates the number of images stored in the memory 20 and not yet written to the hard disk device 22, and a variable n indicates the hard disk device 22 within one screen.
Indicates the number of sectors recorded in. The variables m and n are stored in the memory 29.

First, the variable m is cleared (S1), and the release signal from the release switch 32 is waited for (S2).
When the release switch 32 is operated, the image sensor 14
Is exposed and the captured image data is stored in the area # of the memory 20.
The data are sequentially stored in the empty areas of 1 to # 8 (S3).

The details of the processing of S3 are shown in FIG. That is, in response to the operation of the release switch 32, the system control circuit 28 opens the shutter 12 for a predetermined period, and the image sensor 1
4 is exposed (S21). After the exposure is completed, the system control circuit 28 reads the image signal from the image sensor 14 (S2).
2). The output of the image sensor 14 is processed by the process circuit 23 (S23), then converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 18, and the memory 2 is passed through the memory control circuit 26.
It is sequentially stored in the empty areas of the areas # 1 to # 8 of 0.
As will be described later in detail, the areas # 1 to # 8 are normally used cyclically.

The first image is stored in area # 1 of memory 20. The system control circuit 28 stores that the captured image data is stored in the area # 1 in the memory 20, and increments m (S4).

It is checked whether or not the variable m is zero (S5). If the variable m is zero, all the captured image data is stored in the memory 2
Since it indicates that the data has been transferred from 0 to the hard disk device 22, the process ends.

If the variable m is not zero (S5), the image data to be transferred to the hard disk device 22 is the memory 2
It means that it exists in 0. Therefore, the image data in the memory 20 to be transferred to the hard disk device 22 is specified (S6). Specifically, the system control circuit 28 refers to the memory 29 and determines from which area # 1 to # 12 of the memory 20 the image data is to be read. At the present stage, the image data stored in the area # 1 of the memory 20 is read out.

In order to write to the hard disk device 22, the sector management variable n is cleared (S7), image data for one sector is read from the memory 20, and the hard disk
The data is recorded in the disk device 22 (S9). From the memory 20 to the hard disk device 22, the image data of one screen is recorded in the hard disk device 22 (S13).
Is repeated for each sector (S9), and n is incremented each time it is transferred (S12). Since the image data for one screen has 600 sectors as described above, n
= 600, the processing in sector units is repeated (S1
3).

When the image data for one screen has been recorded in the hard disk device 22, that is, when n = 600 (S13), m is decremented, and
The area (here, area # 1) for storing the image data that has been transferred to the hard disk device 22 is released for storage of the next captured image data (S14).

Hard disk drive 2 for 600 sectors
When the release switch 32 is operated in the middle of recording to the memory 2 (S8), the system control circuit 28 refers to the memory 29 and the variable m to check the free space of the memory 20 (S1).
5) If there is free space, the transfer from the memory 20 to the hard disk device 22 is interrupted, and the variable n at that time, the read address of the memory 20 and the hard disk device 2
The recording address of 2 is stored in the memory 29 (S16).

Photographing, that is, exposure of the image pickup device 14 and writing of photographed image data by the exposure to the memory 20 are executed (S17). When the area # 1 of the memory 20 is in use,
New image data is stored in the area # 2, information on the storage position is stored in the memory 29, and m is incremented (S19). Then, the variable n stored in the memory 29 in S16, the read address of the memory 20 and the recording address of the hard disk device 22 are set in the memory control circuit 26 of the memory 29, and the interruption from the memory 20 to the hard disk device 22 is performed. The transfer is restarted (S19).

The data amount in the horizontal direction of the photographed image 64
0 bytes (that is, the horizontal data amount of the areas # 1 to # 8 of the memory 20) and the recording unit 51 of the hard disk device 22.
The least common multiple of 2 bytes (1 sector) is 2,560 bytes, which corresponds to 5 sectors. In this embodiment, recording on the suspended hard disk device 22 is restarted in units of this data amount, that is, 5 sectors.

For example, assume that a release signal is generated when n = 127, that is, 127 sectors for 600 sectors are recorded on the hard disk device 22. in this case,
Before restarting recording on the hard disk drive 22, n
= 125 and the corresponding read address of the memory 20 and write address of the hard disk device 22 are set in the memory control circuit 26 (S19).

If a recording error occurs in the middle of recording one screen of image data in the hard disk device 22 (S10), similar to the restart of recording in the hard disk device 22 interrupted by the release signal, Recording is again performed on the hard disk device 22 in units of the data amount of 5 sectors corresponding to the least common multiple of the horizontal data amount of the areas # 1 to # 8 of the memory 20 and the recording unit of the hard disk device 22. (S11).

For example, it is assumed that some recording error occurs when n = 361, that is, 361 sectors of 600 sectors are recorded on the hard disk device 22. In this case, n = 360 and the corresponding read address of the memory 20 and write address of the hard disk device 22 are set in the memory control circuit 26 (S1).
1) The sector unit recording is re-executed (S9).

Next, the operation of outputting the image data recorded in the hard disk device 22 to the outside through the external interface 24 will be described. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the operation.

The sector management variable n is cleared (S3
1). The memory control circuit 26 reads the image data for one sector from the hard disk device 22 and outputs it to the digital interface 24 (S32). If no communication error occurs (S33), n is incremented (S35), and transmission in sector units is repeated until n reaches 600 (S36) (S32).

When a communication error occurs and a resend request is issued from an external computer or the like (S33), the variable n and the hard disk drive 22 are set in units of the data amount of 5 sectors.
The read address of (S) is set in the memory control circuit 26 (S
34), the sector unit transmission is restarted (S32). That is, including the data normally output before the error occurred,
Resume output or communication. Of course, the receiving computer or the like similarly sets the address of the received data.

For example, if a resend request due to a communication error or the like is input when n = 53, that is, up to 53 sectors of 600 sectors are output to the outside, n = 50, and the hard disk device 22 corresponding thereto is input. The read address of is set in the memory control circuit 26, and data output is restarted (S34).

In FIG. 5, the memory control circuit 26 outputs the image data read from the hard disk device 22 directly to the digital interface 24, but of course, the image data read from the hard disk device 22 is temporarily output. After being stored in the memory 20, it may be transferred from the memory 20 to the digital interface 24 according to the procedure shown in FIG. This is advantageous depending on the communication speed.

In the above embodiment, when the operation of writing the output of the A / D converter 18 into the memory 20 occurs, the operation of reading the data from the memory 20 and applying it to the hard disk device 22 is interrupted. Controlled by separate circuits,
By using the memory 20 as a shared memory of the circuit,
The interruption of the transfer from the memory 20 to the hard disk device 22 can be avoided. That is, the branch determination shown in S8 of FIG. 3 is eliminated, and the transfer speed from the memory 20 to the hard disk device 22 can be substantially increased.

Next, a description will be given of the operation at the time of continuous shooting in which the effect of the memory 20 is most prominent. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the operation. In the present embodiment, the image data obtained by continuous shooting is initially stored in the areas # 1 to # 8 of the memory 20 sequentially and is copied to the areas # 9 to # 12 by 1/3 between continuous shootings. At the stage of copying one screen, the storage area of the copy source is released for the next captured image. In this way, area # 9
~ Effectively utilize # 12.

This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, the variable m is cleared (S41), and the release signal from the release switch 32 is waited for (S42). When the release switch 32 is operated, the image pickup device 14 is exposed, and the picked-up image data is sequentially stored in the empty area of the areas # 1 to # 8 of the memory 20 (S43). For details on S43,
It is the same as in FIG.

The first image is stored in area # 1 of the memory 20. The system control circuit 28 stores that the captured image data is stored in the area # 1 in the memory 20, and increments m (S44). Then, the data for 1/3 screen of the image stored in the memory 20 is stored in the areas # 9 to # 1.
Copy to the empty area of 2 (S45). Here, S43
1/3 of the image data written in area # 1 in area # 9
Copy to.

While the memory 20 is not full (S46) and the release signal is being generated (S47), shooting (S4)
3), m increment (S44) and 1/3 copy (S45) are repeated. With this, in the second shooting,
Half of the first remaining 2/3 of the data is copied to the area # 9, and the third remaining 1/3 of the data is copied to the area # 9 in the third shooting. At this stage, all the data of the first shooting has been copied to the area # 9, the area # 1 is released for the subsequent shooting, and the memory 29 stores the first data in the area # 9 of the memory 20. It is stored that the image data of the photograph is stored.

When the memory 20 is full (S46), the image data first written in the memory 20 is read and recorded in the hard disk device 22, and m is decremented (S49).

The order of using the areas # 1 to # 12 of the memory 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. Numerical values in FIG. 7 to FIG. 10 indicate the shooting order, and the image data is written in the numbered area.

In FIG. 7, the third photographed image is stored in the memory 20.
It is stored in (area # 3) of (S43) and is copied 1/3 (S4).
5 shows a usage state of the memory 20 after performing 5). As described above, the image data of the first shooting is the area # 9.
And area # 1 is released.

The second photographed image data stored in the area # 2 is stored while the fourth, fifth and sixth photographed images are sequentially stored in the areas # 4, # 5 and # 6 of the memory 20. Is copied to area # 10. After the sixth captured image is stored in (the area # 6 of) the memory 20 (S43) and the 1/3 copy (S45) is executed, as shown in FIG. It is copied to # 10 and the area # 2 is released.

Similarly, while the seventh, eighth, and ninth captured images are sequentially stored in the areas # 7, # 8, and # 1 of the memory 20, the third image stored in the area # 3 is stored. The captured image data is copied to the area # 11. The ninth captured image is stored in (the area # 1 of) the memory 20 (S43), 1
After executing the / 3 copy (S45), as shown in FIG. 9, all the third captured image data are copied to the area # 11, and the area # 3 is released.

While the 10th and 11th captured images are sequentially stored in the areas # 2 and # 3 of the memory 20, the 4th captured image data stored in the area # 4 is stored in the area # 12.
Copied to. After the eleventh photographed image is stored in (the area # 3 of) the memory 20 (S43) and the third photographed image data of the fourth photographed image in the area # 4 is executed (S45),
As shown in FIG. 10, the memory 20 is substantially full. That is, although 2/3 of the fourth captured image data is copied to the area # 12, but 1/3 remains in the area # 4, the area # 4 cannot be released for new image data. As a result, the memory 20 no longer has room to store new captured image data.

When the continuous shooting is completed (S47), S5 in FIG.
Then, the unrecorded image data stored in the memory 20 is transferred to and recorded in the hard disk device 22.

Area # 9 of the memory 20 in the continuous shooting mode
Although it has been described as if ~ # 12 is used, it is because it is rare that the areas # 1 to # 8 of the memory 20 are normally occupied at the same time in the case of single shooting. Area of the memory 20 as in the continuous shooting #
You may utilize 9- # 12. For example, a device having a slower writing speed can be used as the hard disk device 22.

In this embodiment, areas # 1 to # of the memory 20 are
The images stored in No. 8 are divided into regions # 9 to # 1 by 1/3 each.
Although it was copied to 2, the unit of copying is not limited to 1/3,
It is decided in consideration of the continuous shooting speed.

In the above embodiment, areas # 1 to # on the memory 20 where the write address can be determined easily and quickly.
8 is used for writing the photographed image data, and when the photographed image data stored in the areas # 1 to # 8, which are not used in the conventional example, are transferred to the hard disk device 22, So to speak, it is used as a buffer. As a result, the entire storage area of the memory 20 can be effectively utilized, and the shooting speed, especially the continuous shooting speed can be increased.

Next, a new recording method on the hard disk device 22 will be described. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the recording area of the hard disk device 22. It is divided into a management data area 40 for recording management data and an information data area 42 for recording information data. The information data area 42 has a predetermined size (book In the embodiment, for example, it is divided into image areas 42-1, ..., 42-n of 600 sectors. In the present embodiment, the recording and erasing of images are performed in units of the image areas 42-1, ..., 42-n.

In the management data area 40, the usage status (recorded or unrecorded) of the information data area 42, data size,
Management information such as recording date and time of each data and recording position of each data is recorded. These pieces of information are the same as when recording computer data.

FIG. 12 shows a recording and erasing operation flowchart of the hard disk device 22. First, the management data area is searched and the recording status of the information data area 42 is stored in the memory 29 in the system control circuit 28 (S5).
1).

In response to the release signal, as described above, the photographed image data is recorded in the hard disk device 22. At this time, the memory 29 is referred to and the image area 4 is recorded.
An unrecorded area is searched in units of 2-1, ..., 42-n, and captured image data is recorded in the detected unrecorded area.
As a result, a continuous area for recording the image data can be secured, so that recording can be performed at high speed.

When an erasing command is input by an operation switch (not shown) (S54), predetermined data indicating unrecorded data is written in the management information area 40 for the designated file (S55).

[0061]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, the intermediate memory means can be effectively utilized without significantly reducing the continuous shooting speed. As a result, the number of frames that can be continuously shot at one time can be increased.

By controlling the recording medium on an image-by-image basis, the recording speed can be made substantially faster and stable, and the time required for recording can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a logical structure diagram of a storage area of a memory 20.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of a single shooting according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a detailed flowchart of S3 and S17 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of external output.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart at the time of continuous shooting.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a usage state of the memory 20 during continuous shooting.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a usage state of the memory 20 during continuous shooting.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a usage state of the memory 20 during continuous shooting.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a usage state of the memory 20 during continuous shooting.

11 is a schematic diagram of a recording area of the hard disk device 22. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of recording and erasing of the hard disk device 22.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: Photographing lens 12: Shutter 14: Image sensor
16: Process circuit 18: A / D conversion circuit 20: Memory 22: Hard disk device 24: Digital interface 26: Memory control circuit 28: System control circuit 29: Memory 30: Clock generation circuit 32: Release switch 40: Management data area 42: Information data area

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electronic still camera, comprising an intermediate memory means for temporarily storing photographed images before recording them on a recording medium, wherein the intermediate memory means is capable of storing a plurality of photographed images. A fast storage first storage area and a second storage area capable of storing one or more images and substantially slow access are provided, and are written in the first storage area of the intermediate memory means during continuous shooting. An electronic still camera, wherein the captured image is recorded on the recording medium via the second storage area of the intermediate memory means. 2. An image, characterized in that an information recording area of a recording medium is divided into recording areas of a certain size suitable for an image size to be recorded, and recording of image information is managed in units of the recording area. How to keep records.