JPH09312791A - Electronic camera and electronic camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transfer image data with a simple operation and to attain reproduction and edit on a personal computer(PC) by storing computer program data for image display. SOLUTION: When an electronic camera 101 and a PC 102 are connected, the PC 102 controls an image data memory 8 of the electronic camera 101 and a PC program memory 9. A PC program (edit program) used to conduct processing such as expansion, reproduction and edit on the PC 102 for compressed image data stored in the image data memory 8, and a PC program (transfer program) to transfer the compressed image data and the edit program to the storage device of the PC 102 are stored in the PC program memory 9. When an instruction input section 21 of the PC 102 is operated and the transfer program is executed, image data in the data memory 8 are transferred to an HDD 16, and the edit program is read and transferred to the HDD 16 to set a state possible for start.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic camera and an electronic camera system, and more particularly to a data transfer technique when connecting an electronic camera and a computer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the increase in CPU processing capacity and the increase in capacity of storage devices such as HDDs, computer devices (personal computers, hereinafter referred to as PCs) can handle images such as still images and moving images. It became possible. Along with this, an electronic camera has attracted attention as one of image input devices for a PC due to its ease of photographing, and a number of products have been developed. This electronic camera records image data in the form of digital data in a storage means such as a semiconductor memory. The image data recorded in the electronic camera is transferred to a PC and used for attachment to documents and creation of presentation materials.

The above-mentioned conventional technique is, for example, "Th
e Windows "Softbank; April 1996, pages 109-127.

[0004]

By the way, when a user transfers image data from an electronic camera to a PC, it is expected that a plurality of still images, moving images, etc. are captured and recorded in the electronic camera. .

At this time, it is considered that the user has the following two requirements. I want to transfer image data to a predetermined area of the storage device on the PC side with the simplest operation possible. I want to transfer all the image data to the PC all at once, empty the storage means of the electronic camera, and prepare for the next shooting.

However, the conventional technology has not yet met the above-mentioned user's requirements.

That is, for example, as a transfer work, a program for transferring and reproducing image data from an electronic camera is installed in a PC in advance, and this program is started at the time of the transfer work to perform image setting while various settings are made. In many cases, the method of executing data transfer was used. However, if such a method is adopted, it is necessary to install the program on the PC and various settings need to be made when transferring the image data, which makes the transfer of the image data from the electronic camera to the PC complicated. In addition, the transfer work itself is difficult for an inexperienced user.

As a method of connecting a PC and an electronic camera to transfer image data to the PC, serial communication using RS232C or the like and transfer via a PC card are performed.
Two methods are known. However, in serial communication,
Since the data transfer rate is low, there is a problem that it takes time to transfer image data having a large data capacity (for example, the communication speed of RS232C is several tens of Kbps).
s, the image data is JPEG compressed data of a still image, and is several tens.
Since there is a data amount of Kbytes / one sheet, it takes several seconds to several tens of seconds to transfer one image data). For this reason, the batch transfer described above requires a large amount of communication time, and if there is not enough time, it is inevitable that only necessary image data is sequentially selected and transferred to the PC. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
The purpose is that the user can use the electronic camera
When the image data is transferred to, the image data can be transferred to the PC side by the simplest operation possible, and the image data can be reproduced and edited on the PC.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has a second storage means for storing image display computer program data, in addition to a first storage means for storing image data. Built in, PC in advance
The configuration does not require the installation of new programs on.

Further, at least a part of the electronic camera is of a PC card type, and the PC is provided directly on the PC.
The card slot can be installed.

Alternatively, the form of the electronic camera is a PC card removable type, and the PC card is provided with a first storage area for storing image data and a second storage area for storing computer program data for image display. PC card P
By installing it in the PC card slot provided in C,
The image data recorded by the electronic camera can be transferred to the PC.

Further, by a series of operations for selecting and executing the image display computer program on a PC,
The image data recorded by the electronic camera can be transferred to a predetermined location in a storage device in the PC.

Further, the interface of the PC card is made highly versatile by using ATA (AT Attachment interface).

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic camera system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 101 is an electronic camera and 102 is a PC. The PC 102 shown here is configured by a known technique, and does not particularly have special components for the present invention.

On the electronic camera 101 side, 1 is a camera processing unit, 2 is a CODEC processing unit, 3 is a CPU, 4 is an instruction input unit, 5 is an internal bus, 7 is a firmware memory, and 8
Is image data memory, 9 is program memory for PC, 1
Reference numeral 0 is an interface (hereinafter referred to as I / F), and 11 is a connector. On the PC 102 side, 12 is a connector, 13 is an I / F, 14 is RAM, and 15 is RO.
M and 16 are HDDs (hard disk devices), 17 is an internal bus, 18 is a video I / F, 19 is a monitor, and 20 is a CP.
U and 21 are command input units.

Next, the operation will be described. When the user operates a start-up SW (not shown) in the command input unit 4, the CPU 3 reads the camera control program from the firmware memory 7, and the CPU 3 starts controlling each processing unit according to this program.

The camera processing unit 1 is composed of known technical means such as a lens, an image pickup device such as a CCD (Charge Cupled Device), an A / D conversion circuit, a digital camera signal processing circuit, etc., which are not specified here. The light imaged on the image sensor through the lens is photoelectrically converted and subjected to digital image processing to output a digital video signal.

The digital video signal is input to the CODEC processing section 2. The CODEC processing unit 2 uses JPEG,
This is a part where a known compression process such as MPEG is applied to a digital video signal and converted into compressed image data, and the compressed image data is output. Here, in order to simplify the description, a still image is used, and hereinafter, the CODEC processing unit 2
It is assumed that one JPEG process of the still image compression process is performed.

The compressed image data is stored in the image data memory 8 via the internal bus 5. Then, a plurality of compressed image data are stored in the image data memory 8 by performing the above-described operation a plurality of times. It should be noted that such an operation is equivalent to an operation of generating and recording compressed image data in a known electronic camera that stores a still image.

Next, the transfer processing of the compressed image data generated as described above to the PC 102 will be described.

The I / Fs 10 and 13 perform communication format conversion, voltage level conversion, and digital level conversion in order to enable input / output of digital data to / from external devices via the internal bus 5 of the electronic camera 101 and the internal bus 17 of the PC 102, respectively. And input / output control. The communication format referred to here is not limited to parallel or serial (for example, SCSI in the former case, RS-232 in the latter case).
C, 1394, USB, etc.). I / F 10 and 1
3 is connected to the connectors 11 and 12. The connectors 11 and 12 are connected by a cable or other contact-type connecting means or non-contact connecting means, which enables data input / output between the electronic camera 101 and the PC 102.

In this embodiment, the electronic camera 101 and the PC
When 102 and 102 are connected by an appropriate connecting means,
Reference numeral 102 denotes an image data memory 8 of the electronic camera 101 and P
The C program memory 9 becomes controllable. In the PC program memory 9, the compressed image data recorded in the image data memory 8 is stored in the PC.
PC for processing such as decompression, playback and editing on 102
A computer program (hereinafter, referred to as an editing program) and a PC program (hereinafter, referred to as a transfer program) for transferring the compressed image data and the editing program to the storage device of the PC 102 are stored.

In the above-mentioned state, the user sets the PC 1
When the CPU 20 is instructed through the internal bus 17 to operate the command input unit 21 of No. 02 through the internal bus 17, the CPU 20 performs a data input / output operation with the electronic camera 101 to cause the PC program on the electronic camera 101 side. Read the transfer program stored in the memory 9,
Execute this transfer program.

When the transfer program is executed, all the plurality of compressed image data stored in the image data memory 8 of the electronic camera 101 are stored in the storage device H of the PC 102.
The data is collectively transferred to a predetermined storage area of the DD 16. Further, the editing program stored in the PC program memory 9 of the electronic camera 101 is read out and H
It is transferred to the specified storage area of the DD16, which allows the editing program to be started (installation).
Is done.

After the above operation is completed, the user operates the PC 102.
When the user operates the command input unit 21 to instruct execution of the editing program, the CPU 20 causes the editing program to
The data is read from D16 to the RAM 14 and the execution of the editing program is started. As a result, the compressed image data is expanded into image data by an appropriate interactive operation with the monitor 19 according to the editing program, and the video I
It is reproduced and output on the monitor 19 via / F18. Also, various editing processing operations such as moving, rotating, transforming, cutting image data, attaching to another document, etc. can be executed by the editing program and / or a separately prepared program.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the external appearance of the first embodiment. As shown in the figure, the electronic camera 101 and the PC
102 is connected by a cable 103, and the user can use the keyboard 104 of the PC and the trackball 10
5, or a command input unit 2 such as a mouse not shown here
By operating 1, the data transfer operation described above is performed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a monitor screen on the monitor 19 of the PC 101, and the operation of the first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows a data storage state of each device. Here, in order to simplify the explanation, a well-known technology Win
The operation will be described using the screen design of the file manager, which is a file control program of dows.

FIG. 3A shows the electronic camera 10 before transfer.
1, FIG. 3B shows the storage state of the data of the PC 102 after the transfer.

When the electronic camera 101 is connected to the PC 102, the electronic camera 101 is recognized as a peripheral device of the PC 102 and a drive is added. In the first embodiment,
E: \ CAMERA Root directory 3
01 is a directory 30 for storing the editing program
2 and a directory 303 for storing compressed image data
And a transfer program 304 are stored, and each of the following is stored in HENSYU, PICLIB, CAMERA. EX
It is called E. In the directory HENSYU302, the editing program HENSYU. EXE305
However, in the directory PICLIB 303, PHOTO_01. JPG306, PHOTO
_02. JPG307, ... Are stored respectively.

In this state, the user selects CAMERA. EX
When E304 is selected and executed, for example, the data is transferred to the HDD 16 of the PC 102 so that the state shown in FIG.

The HDD 16 is recognized as the C drive,
Here, C: \ HDD. Root directory 30
8 the directory CAMERA 309 for electronic cameras
Is created automatically. Here, if the user separately specifies, the location and name of the directory can be freely set. And the directory CAMERA309
Below that, HENNSYU310, which is a directory for storing the editing program, and PICLIB01, 311 which is a directory for storing the compressed image data, are generated. E
XE305 and PHOTO_0 which is compressed image data
1. JPG306, PHOTO — 02. JPG307,
... and are transferred. Here, "01" in 311 of PICLIB01 of the directory for storing the compressed image data
Is the transfer program CAMERA. EXE3
04 is automatically set, and after the electronic camera 101 is operated to take another image of another subject, the transfer program CAMERA. When selecting and executing EXE304,
Increment the number sequentially.

By the above operation, even when the connection between the PC 102 and the electronic camera 101 is released, the user can
HEN, which is an editing program stored in the HDD 16 of 102
SYU. When EXE305 is selected and executed, compressed image data PHOTO_01. JPG306, PHOTO
_02. JPG307, ... Can be decompressed and reproduced, and any editing work can be performed.

After the above operation is completed normally, the directory PICLIB303 of the drive E: \ CAMERA
Compressed image data PHOTO_01. JPG306,
PHOTO — 02. Erase JPG307, ... to prepare for the next shooting. This operation means to erase the internal data of the image data memory 9 in FIG. The erasing operation may be performed automatically or manually by the user.

Further, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows the electronic camera 101 through the PC 10.
P after performing the above-described data transfer processing to
The storage state of the data of C102 is shown.

Transfer program CAMERA. EXE30
Each time you select 4 and run, the directory PICLIB
01 (311), PICLIB02 (312), PIC
LIB03 (313) and PICLIB04 (314) are sequentially created, and the sequentially compressed image data is transferred.

The editing program HENSYU. EX
Since the E305 has only to be transferred once, the transfer program CAMERA. The EXE 304 is the same PC 102.
To the editing program HENSY
U. The EXE 305 is not transferred.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an electronic camera system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, in which 501 is an electronic camera and 502 is a PC.

The electronic camera 501 of the second embodiment has a PC card I / F 503 and a PC card connector 50 because the camera itself has a function and structure as a PC card.
4 is provided in place of the I / F 10 and the connector 11 except that the electronic camera 101 of the first embodiment is provided.
It has the same structure as. Also, the PC 502 and the PC card I / F 506 are connected to the PC card so that the PC card can be connected.
P of the first embodiment except that a card socket 505 is provided instead of the I / F 13 and the connector 12.
It has the same configuration as C102.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the external appearance of the second embodiment. As shown in the figure, a part of the electronic camera 501 has a PC card-shaped structure, whereby the electronic camera 501 can be directly connected to the PC 502, and other structures and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment. This is the same as the embodiment.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electronic camera system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, 701 is an electronic camera and 502 is a PC.

The electronic camera 701 of the third embodiment has a P
PC card I / F7 for connection with C card
03 and a PC card socket 704 are provided instead of the I / F 10 and the connector 11 and the image data memory 8 is removed, and the configuration is the same as that of the electronic camera 101 of the first embodiment. The PC 502 is the same as the PC 502 of the second embodiment described with reference to FIGS.

In the third embodiment, the PC card 705 is used to transfer data from the electronic camera 701 to the PC 502, and the usage of the PC card 705 has the following features.

In the electronic camera 701, the PC card 7
When 05 is inserted into the PC card socket 704, the PC
The CPU 3 confirms the attributes of the PC card 705 via the card I / F 703 and the internal bus 5, and starts controlling the PC card 705. Memory space 706 of PC card 705
The image data area 707 and the PC program area 70
8 and stores the compressed image data generated by the CODEC processing unit 2 in the image data area 707 and the PC program stored in the PC program memory 9 in the PC program area 708. When shooting is finished,
The PC card 705 is removed from the electronic camera 701, is connected to the PC card socket 505 of the PC 502, and transfers data by the same operation as in the above-described embodiments.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the external appearance of the third embodiment. As shown in the figure, the electronic camera 701 is a PC
It has an interface with the card 705, and PC502
The configuration is such that data can be input and output via the PC card 705, and other configurations and operations are the same as those in the above-described embodiments.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the image data memory 8 and the PC program memory 9 which are constituent elements of the electronic camera are described as independent memories, but the areas are divided on the same memory. It is also possible to use the image data area as the first storage means and the PC program area as the second storage means. Further, it is possible to store the PC program in the firmware memory 7.

The interface of the PC card is
Various methods have been proposed and commercialized by known techniques. However, a PC having a PC card I / F does not support all interfaces, and it is often the case that a separate program must be purchased and installed. In carrying out the present invention, there is no limitation on the PC card interface, but it goes without saying that it is advantageous to use a general interface, that is, an interface already provided in a PC having most PC card I / Fs. For example, ATA (AT Attachment interface)
Is used, it becomes highly versatile.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention, a storage means for storing compressed image data and a storage means for storing computer program data for image display are built in the electronic camera.
Since the computer program for image display can be directly executed from the PC, the compressed image data can be transferred from the electronic camera to the PC and the compressed image data can be expanded and displayed on the PC by a simple operation. Become.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic camera system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of an external appearance of the electronic camera system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a first explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a second explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an electronic camera system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of an external appearance of an electronic camera system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electronic camera system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an example of an external appearance of an electronic camera system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Camera Processing Unit 2 CODEC Processing Unit 3,20 CPU 4,21 Command Input Unit 5,17 Internal Bus 7 Firmware Memory 8 Image Data Memory 9 PC Program Memory 10, 13 I / F 11, 12 Connector 14 RAM 15 ROM 16 HDD 18 Video I / F 19 Monitor 101, 501, 701 Electronic Camera 102, 502 PC (Personal Computer) 103 Cable 104 Keyboard 105 Trackball 301 Root Directory 302, 303, 309, 310, 311, 312, 3
13,314 Directory 304 Transfer program 305 Editing program 306,307 Compressed image data 503,506,703 PC card I / F 504 PC card connector 505,704 PC card socket 705 PC card 706 Memory space 707 Image data area 708 PC program region

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electronic camera connectable to a computer device for electronically generating and recording image data, wherein the image data is stored on the computer device in addition to the first storage means for storing the image data. Play, edit,
An electronic camera comprising a second storage means for storing image display computer program data for controlling movement, copying and the like. 2. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the camera is a PC card type. 3. An electronic camera system which is connectable to a computer device and has an electronic camera for electronically generating and recording image data, comprising: first storage means for storing the image data in the electronic camera. An electronic camera system comprising: second storage means for storing image display computer program data for controlling reproduction, editing, movement, copying, etc. of the image data on the computer device. 4. The electronic camera system according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of the electronic camera has a PC card type. 5. An electronic camera system having an electronic camera capable of inputting / outputting data via a PC card detachable from a computer device and electronically generating and recording image data, wherein the PC card has A first storage area for storing the image data and a second storage area for storing image display computer program data for controlling reproduction, editing, movement, copying, etc. of the image data on the computer device. , An electronic camera system provided. 6. The electronic device according to claim 3, 4 or 5, wherein the stored image data and the image display computer program data are transferred from the electronic camera by a series of operations executed by a single operation. An electronic camera system characterized by transmitting to a computer device. 7. The interface according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein the interface of the PC card is an ATA (AT Att).
achment interface).