JPH10233988A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To immediately display a small screen by request by previously generating a small screen about a still image that is needed for processing time at the time of decoding, expanding and generating a small screen, when it is encoded and compressed. SOLUTION: An encoding and decoding processing means 3 selects a still image path of a changeover switch, for instance, when an input signal is a still image. In such cases, a small screen generating means 8 is connected in parallel to a still image compressing part of the means 3, compresses a still image and simultaneously generates a small screen of the still image. The compressed still image data and a small screen data are synthesized, outputted to record control buffer memory 4 and recorded as a compressed image having small screen data. At the time of reproduction, the synthesized compressed image having small screen data are separately divided into a single compressed image and a small screen. When small screen display is requested based on the changeover of an operation switch 13, small screen data are selected, and when normal still image display is requested, image data after decoding expansion processing is performed are selected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Means for simply checking the outline of recorded video information in an apparatus provided with an electronic image pickup means, recording means and video display means or output means, and a plurality of image compression / decompression means More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for efficiently operating the means in an apparatus having the above means, and to a video device such as an electronic camera having the above means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 6144, a digital signal processing device is provided which converts a block of a digital image signal into a signal of a coefficient signal and encodes the coefficient signal into a flow of a compressed signal. A reduced resolution image signal from the digital camera, downloads both the compressed (high resolution) image signal and the reduced resolution image signal to a removable digital storage device, and stores each high resolution image in a common multi-format image file. By relating to the resolution, quick image access is enabled. In addition, this allows a low-resolution image to be displayed without waiting for expansion and processing of a larger full-resolution image.

[0003]

The above-mentioned prior art is based on recording regular image data and data of a small screen (or reduced resolution) showing an outline of this image in pairs with the regular image data. On the other hand, when confirming recorded contents, only small-screen data which can be demodulated to a displayable state in a short time has to be handled. However, when the above-mentioned pair relationship changes or when this format is not followed, there is a possibility that the correspondence cannot be made. Further, it is not always efficient in an apparatus capable of realizing a sufficiently high-speed decoding process of compressed data, and an increase in recording capacity for small-screen (reduced-resolution image) data has not been sufficiently considered. .

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide an apparatus capable of coping with a change in the recording state (content) and data recorded (operated) by another apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which has a compression / decompression means and which utilizes a format capable of selecting a means capable of high-speed decompression, in particular, to improve the efficiency of a recording medium.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, when a display of the small screen is requested for a file for which the small screen data is not prepared, a small screen prepared in advance is used instead of the small screen. A warning indicating that there is no screen data is displayed. Thus, when an attempt is made to confirm the contents of a file recorded by another device, the file is not mistaken for an empty (unrecorded) file. Furthermore, if a small screen is generated again when the image data is decoded and reproduced and added to the original compressed image data, the contents can be confirmed on the small screen from the next time.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned other problem, the above-mentioned second encoding compression / decompression means capable of high-speed decoding is provided, and the second means is used for an image in which it can be used. Assuming that the second means is a means exclusively provided for decoding a moving image, for example, decoding and reproduction of 30 frames per second (in the case of an NTSC frame image) in accordance with a broadcasting standard to display a smooth moving image. However, if processing can be performed at such a speed, it is not necessary to prepare a small screen in advance as in the above configuration, and even if it is generated after receiving a display request, the waiting time for image output is You don't have to feel the stress.
Under such conditions, there is no advantage in preparing a small screen in advance, and conversely, there is no need to record a small screen, so that an increase in the recording capacity of the storage device can be prevented.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embodiment showing a schematic block configuration of the present invention. The captured video signal processed by the camera control unit (1) is sent to the video output unit (9) as its through output, and at this time, the image memory (2) serving as a buffer for waiting for compression encoding ) Is temporarily stored. The next stage of encoding / decompression means (3), Code / Decode, abbreviated as Codec, reads the video signal sequentially from the image memory at the time of compression encoding, performs compression encoding processing, and performs communication with the recording unit. The compressed signal is written into a buffer memory (4) functioning as a buffer (including an interface unit).
The buffer memory controls writing to the storage means, which is a PC card (7) in the drawing of the present embodiment. Also, at the time of decompression decoding, the signal flows in the reverse direction,
The ec processing section (3) decompresses and decodes the signal into a normal video signal, and stores it in the image memory (2). The video signal temporarily stored in the image memory is further modulated by the camera processing unit (1) into a carrier signal conforming to a predetermined standard (for example, NTSC), and is similarly output to the video output unit (9) like the through output video. ) Is output.

In the above-described compression / decompression process,
Based on the image data, the above-described small screen for confirming the recorded contents is generated by the small screen generation unit (8) attached to the codec processing unit (3) by the following two methods.

Hereinafter, the first method will be described with reference to FIG. The portion surrounded by the dotted line in FIG.
The ec processing unit (3) is expanded and described, and the signal flow is that at the time of compression encoding. As described in the previous section, the present invention includes a plurality of encoding / decompressing means, and the present embodiment shows a case for still images and moving images. When the input signal of the Codec processing unit is a still image, a still image path is selected for each switching Sw (14, 15) of the input stage and the output stage. At this time, the small screen generating means (8) is connected in parallel to the still image compression section (15). With such a configuration (connection), in the present embodiment, a small screen of the still image is generated simultaneously with the compression of the still image. The resulting compressed still image data and small screen data are combined by the combining unit (17), output to the recording control buffer memory (4, FIG. 1), and recorded as a compressed image with small screen data. During reproduction, as shown in FIG. 3, the separating means (2) is used instead of the synthesizing means (17).
1) is connected, and the compressed image with small screen data combined by the separating means is divided into a single compressed image and a small screen. The switching Sw (25) selects the small screen data output from the separation unit (21) when there is a small screen display request based on an external request, for example, SW (13, FIG. 1). In the case of a request for displaying a still image, an operation is performed to select the image data after the decoding and decompression processing (23). At the time of playback, as shown in the figure, the small screen is in a data format that can be used without performing special processing, and it does not take much time for decoding etc.
Output is possible immediately after receiving the display request.

Next, the second method will be described with reference to FIG. The second method corresponds to the operation of the above-described plurality of encoding compression / decompression means when handling moving images. Explaining in accordance with the flow of the above-described still image processing, when the codec processing unit input signal is a moving image, a moving image path is selected for each of the switching stages Sw (14, 15) of the input stage and the output stage. Also, at this time, the small screen generating means (8) is not connected during this route, that is, at the time of encoding and compression, it only compresses a moving image and does not generate a small screen. The synthesizing means (18) connected to the moving picture compression means (16) in the figure operates, for example, to synthesize and superimpose an audio signal on the moving image, but a detailed description thereof is omitted here. The compressed still image data is output to the recording control buffer memory (4, FIG. 1), and the compressed image (with sound) is output.
Is recorded as At the time of reproduction, as shown in FIG. 3, a separating means (22) is connected instead of the synthesizing means (18), and the compressed image (with sound) synthesized by the separating means is converted into a compressed image and an audio signal. Although not shown or described here, the audio signal is passed to an audio processing block, and is processed to drive an output unit such as a speaker. At the time of moving image decoding / expanding, the small screen generating means (8) includes a moving image expanding unit (24).
Are connected in series at the subsequent stage. The switching Sw (26) is a small screen for outputting the small screen data generated by the small screen generation unit (8) when there is a request for small screen display based on an external request (not shown). The output line of the generation unit (8) is selected, and in the case of a display request of a normal moving image, the small screen generation is performed in the output of the moving image expansion unit (24) so as to output the image data after the decoding and expansion processing (24). It operates to select the line that bypasses the section. As described above, since high-speed decoding / decompression processing is required to reproduce a moving image, the moving image decompression unit (24) also has a sufficient processing speed. The small screen can be output in a short time. In addition, in the method of generating a small screen each time, there is no need to record a small screen, and there is an effect that an increase in recording capacity can be prevented.

[0011] Compression, recording, and editing (division, concatenation, partial overwriting, etc.) using another device having no small screen generating means.
There is also an effect that the recorded contents can be confirmed using the small screen even for the recorded medium.

A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Since the schematic configuration and operation are in accordance with the first method of the first embodiment and FIG. 3, the description of each function is omitted. The operation of separating the small screen data from the composite image (compressed still image with small screen) by the separation unit (21) when the small screen display of the still image is requested is also in the first embodiment. As described above, when it is determined that the input image data does not include small screen data or cannot be separated for some reason, this determination is performed by, for example, the separation unit (21). (28) selects the output of the warning display generating section, whereby the codec processing section outputs a prepared warning display. As a result, even when handling image data to which small screen data is not added, some small screen display is performed.
There is an effect that it can be distinguished from an unrecorded case and a mistake such as accidental overwriting can be prevented.

The above configuration diagram is an example of a case where the present invention is implemented by hardware, and similar functions can be realized by software. In this case, for example, the bypass line of the functional block is skipped by the execution module, and the parallel connection is replaced by time series processing.

[0014]

According to the present invention, for a still image that requires processing time for decoding / expansion and generation of a small screen, a small screen is generated in advance at the time of encoding / compression. In addition, even when a medium without small screen data recorded by another apparatus that is not based on the configuration of the present invention is reproduced, it is possible to confirm that the recording has been completed by displaying a warning.

A file composed of a group of a plurality of images such as a moving image is divided from the middle to obtain a plurality of different image data, or conversely, a plurality of image data are connected to form one continuous image. Even after such an editing operation, it is possible to display a small screen according to the image after editing, and it is not necessary to record small screen data, so that such increase in recording capacity can be prevented, and There is an effect that processing such as re-securing the storage position of the small screen data on the medium for each time is not required.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an operation at the time of encoding and compressing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an operation at the time of decoding and decompression according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an operation at the time of decoding and decompression according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera signal processing means, 2 ... Image memory, 3 ... Code (compression) / decoding (decompression) processing means, 4 ... Recording control buffer memory, 5 ... Interface means, 6 ... Card socket (PC card connection part), 7 ... PC card (recording medium), 8 ... Small screen generation means, 10 ... Sound processing means 11 ... Sound output means, 13 ... Operation switches.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Keiji Nagayama 1410 Inada, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki Pref., Hitachi, Ltd. Visual Information Media Division (72) Inventor Morio Aoki 1410 Inada, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki Hitachi, Ltd. Media Division

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A video signal is electronically generated, encoded video data is subjected to encoding and compression processing, converted into compressed video data and recorded in a storage means, and further encoded into the compressed video data recorded in the storage means. An electronic camera that generates a video signal that can be output to a television receiver or the like by performing an expansion / decompression process; a small screen generation unit that generates small screen data representing an outline of the video signal; In the path for generating the compressed video data by the encoding compression or decompression means, the small screen data generated by the small screen generation means is added to the video compression data and recorded in the storage means. The added small screen data is separated from the data and output to a receiver or the like, or
When reproducing the compressed video data recorded in the storage means,
In the path in which the compressed video data is decoded into a video signal by the encoding / decompression processing by the encoding / compression / expansion means, the small-screen data is generated by the small-screen generation means each time and output to a receiver or the like. An electronic camera, characterized in that: 2. The encoding compression or decompression means selects a plurality of types of encoding compression or decompression processing, and at least a first encoding compression or decompression processing is performed on a still image and a second encoding compression or decompression processing is performed. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the electronic camera is configured to process a moving image. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said second encoded compression or decompression processing is used for a compressed image which can be decoded in a relatively short time. 2. The electronic camera according to 2. 4. When the small-screen data is not added to the compressed video data recorded in the storage means, or when normal reproduction cannot be performed due to lack of data or a different format, the reproduction is performed. 4. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein a warning display indicating that the display of the small screen is impossible is performed in place of the small screen. 5. When the small-screen data is not added to the compressed video data recorded in the storage means, or when normal reproduction cannot be performed due to a lack of data, a different format, or the like, When performing decoding processing of the compressed video data or ending display of the decoded video, the small-screen generating means generates small-screen data of the video and adds the data to the storage device. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein: