JPH10200715A - Picture data storage method/device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use the storage capacity of a storage medium without waste by extending the recording residual amount of the recording medium on picture data which is newly stored and encoded picture data which is previously stored. SOLUTION: When a capacity lack is judged by the judged result of an idle capacity judgment part 101 judging whether storage capacity exists or not at the time of storing encoded picture data in a picture data storage part 102, a part of or whole (a) encoded picture data which is newly added or (b) encoded picture data which is previously stored or both picture data are changed in a picture processing part 103, and picture data is stored in the data storage part 102. When the storage residual amount of the storage medium storing picture data lacks, processings on picture data are a resolution lowering processing, a reduction processing and a color subtraction processing. The processings reduce information on picture data to be dealt with and the processings are executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image data storage method and an image data storage device for storing image data obtained by compressing and encoding original image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a prior art, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-62258
An official gazette is shown (FIG. 6). In FIG. 6, when the encoded image data is additionally stored in the image data storage unit 602, a free space determination unit 601 that determines whether there is a capacity to additionally store the image data and a free space determination unit Part 60
If the result of the determination in 1 indicates that the capacity is insufficient, a. Newly added encoded image data, b. The coding condition changing unit 603 changes and changes the coding condition of one or both of the already stored coded image data, thereby increasing the capacity to be additionally stored. It has a coding condition changing process to secure.

[0003]

In the configuration diagram shown in FIG. 6, since the encoding condition is changed to store the image data, it is necessary to set the encoding condition in advance.

[0004] Therefore, when the encoding condition changing process is performed by software, the process becomes complicated, and the setting operation of the encoding condition is redundant.

[0005] When processing is performed by hardware, the circuit becomes complicated.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image data storage device for storing image data, wherein the image data is newly stored when the image data is additionally stored in a recording medium. An image data storage device characterized in that it has expansion means for expanding the remaining recording capacity of a recording medium for one or both of coded image data and already stored coded image data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image data storage apparatus according to the first aspect, the expansion means performs a low resolution process, a reduction process, or a color reduction process. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image data storage device according to the first aspect, further comprising a selection unit for arbitrarily selecting data to be processed when the remaining storage capacity is expanded by the expansion unit. An image data storage device characterized by the following.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image data storing method for storing image data, when the image data is added and stored in the recording medium, the newly stored image data and the code already stored are stored. An image data storage method characterized by performing resolution reduction processing, reduction processing, or color reduction processing on one or both of the converted image data or both.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention proposes an image data expansion method for changing the storage method of image data without changing the encoding conditions and expanding the remaining storage area of the storage medium.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the image data storing method according to the present invention.

[0012] When the encoded image data is additionally stored in the image data storage unit 102, the free space determination unit 10 determines whether or not there is a capacity to additionally store the image data.
1 and when the free space determination unit 101 determines that the capacity is insufficient, a. Newly added encoded image data, b. The image data processing unit 103 changes the image data for part or all of the already stored encoded image data, or both, and stores the changed image data in the image data storage unit 102.

In the present invention, when the remaining storage capacity of the storage medium for storing the image data becomes insufficient, the processing to be performed on the image data is a resolution reduction processing, a reduction processing, and a color reduction processing. Merely reduces the information of the image data to be processed.

Therefore, there is no need for a redundant operation such as a processing routine for changing the encoding conditions as in the prior art, and no additional hardware is required, thus simplifying the circuit.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image data storage device using the image data storage method of the present invention.
An image data storage device built in an electronic still camera or the like is taken as an example.

The image data storage device shown in FIG. 2 includes an encoding unit 201 for compressing and encoding image data, an image data buffer 202 for temporarily storing encoded image data, and an image data stored in the image data buffer 202. A free space determining unit 203 for determining whether there is free space in additional storage when the data is new image data, an image data storing unit 204 for storing image data, and processing of image data when it is determined that there is no free space Image data selection unit 205 for selecting image data to be subjected to image processing, image data decoding unit 206 for decoding the selected image data before processing, image data processing unit 207 for processing the decoded image, and image data The storage unit 204 includes a storage area change buffer 208 used to change the image storage position of the storage unit 204.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the embodiment of FIG. 2. This flowchart shows the operation when one image is stored. In the case of storing a plurality of images, FIG. Will be repeated.

The processing operation of the embodiment of FIG. 2 will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, in step 301, the input image is encoded by the encoding unit 201. The encoding method in the encoding unit 201 may be any method as long as the amount of data after encoding can be reduced. In this embodiment, JPE used as an international standard is used.
The G method is used.

The encoded image data is stored in the image data buffer 202.

In step S302, the free space determination unit 203 compares the free space in the image data storage unit 204 with the data amount of the image data stored in the image data buffer 202.

If image data can be stored, the flow advances to step S306 to store the image data in the image data buffer 202 in the image data storage unit 204.

On the other hand, if the free space is not enough, the process proceeds to step S303, where image data is selected by the image data selecting unit 205, and then the process proceeds to step S304, where the image data decoded by the image data decoding unit 206 is processed. Is processed by the image data processing unit 207.

The selection of the image data to be processed by the image data selection unit 205 may be new image data or existing image data already stored in the image data storage unit 204.

Then, the process proceeds to step S305, and if the image data processed by the image data processing unit 207 is image data already stored in the image data storage unit 204,
Erase the data before the change in the image data storage unit 204,
After that, the changed image data is stored.

On the other hand, when new image data is generated by processing the image data stored in the image data buffer 202, the image data before the change in the image data buffer 202 is deleted, and the new image data after the change is deleted. Is stored.

When the above processing is completed, step S3 is performed again.
02, the processing of steps S302 to S305 is repeated until a free area of the image data can be secured. When the free area is secured, the process proceeds to step S306, where the new image data is stored in the image data storage area 204, and a series of processing is performed. The process ends.

If the image processing is repeated several times for the existing image data stored in the image data storage unit 204 by repeating the processing of steps S302 to S305, the empty area in the image data storage unit 204 becomes empty. It is possible that the area is not a continuous area.

Therefore, in the process of step S306 for storing the image data from the image data buffer 202 in the image data storage unit 204, the storage area change buffer 2
Using 08, the storage area is changed so that there is no free space between the image data stored in the image data storage unit 204 and the entire image data is packed, and a continuous free space is secured.

The processing performed by the image processing unit 207 includes resolution reduction processing, reduction processing, and color reduction processing.

One of these processes can be performed on one image data, or several processes can be performed together.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the resolution reduction processing.

The resolution reduction process is a process of calculating an average value of pixel values from a plurality of pixels in the image data decoded by the decoding unit 206, and replacing the average value with each pixel value.

For example, the average value a of the pixel values is calculated from the pixel values [a1, a2, a3, a4] of the image data 401 before the change in FIG. 4, and the respective pixel values of [a1, a2, a3, a4] are calculated. Is replaced with a.

The image data 40 after the change by this process
The pixel information of No. 2 is reduced, and the amount of image data is reduced. Note that the number of pixel values for obtaining the average value is not limited to the above four values.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the reduction processing.
The reduction processing is processing for reducing pixel information based on a certain rule in the image data decoded by the decoding unit 206 to reduce the amount of image data.

For example, the even columns [b, d,...] Of the rows of the image data 501 before the change shown in FIG.
, Column 4,...] Are deleted.

By this processing, the image data 50 after the change
In No. 2, the amount of image data is also reduced.

In the case of the reduction processing, the image size of the image data is also reduced.

The method of reducing pixel information for the reduction process is not limited to the method shown in the example.

The color reduction processing is processing for reducing color information of image data.

Although the description with reference to the drawings is omitted, for example, the color information of the image data is represented by R (red), G (green), B
(Blue) is stored as the number of bits,
When the color gradation of the image data before the change is 65,536 colors (the number of bits of each of RGB is 2 to the 16th power), the image data after the change is 256 bits by deleting the lower 8 bits of each bit of the color gradation.
A process for suppressing the color (the number of RGB bits is 2 to the power of 8) is performed.

The method of storing the color gradation for the color reduction processing is not limited to the RGB method, and the method of deleting the bit information is not limited to the example.

[0044]

According to the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, the storage capacity of the storage medium is used without waste, the remaining storage capacity is expanded by reducing the image data amount of the storage image data, and the storage capacity is first specified. It is possible to store additional images even after the stored number of images have been stored.

Further, since the image data storage device of the present invention has a simpler circuit than that of the prior art, the device can be reduced in size and realized economically.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a resolution reduction process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a reduction process.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the principle of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 free space determination unit 102 image data storage unit 103 image data processing unit 201 encoding unit 202 image data storage buffer 203 free space determination unit 204 image data storage unit 205 image data selection unit 206 decoding unit 207 image data processing unit 208 storage Area change buffer 401 Image data before resolution reduction processing 402 Image data after resolution reduction processing 501 Image data before reduction processing 502 Image data after reduction processing 601 Free space determination unit 602 Image data storage unit 603 Code Condition change section

Claims (4)

[Claims] In an image data storage device for storing image data, when image data is added and stored on a recording medium, one of image data to be newly stored and coded image data already stored is provided. Or an expansion means for expanding the remaining recording capacity of the recording medium for both of them. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the expansion unit performs low-resolution processing, reduction processing, or color reduction processing.
An image data storage device as described in the above. 3. The image data storage device according to claim 1, wherein when the remaining recording capacity is extended by the extension means,
An image data storage device comprising a selection unit for arbitrarily selecting data to be processed. 4. An image data storage method for storing image data, wherein when image data is added and stored on a recording medium, either one of newly stored image data and already stored encoded image data is used. Or an image data storing method for performing resolution reduction or reduction processing or color reduction processing on both of them.