JPH10285517A - Erasure operation controller for electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To immediately retrieve and erase unrequired images and to record new images even in a state where the residual amount of a recording medium is exhausted or remains a little. SOLUTION: The recording medium which is a memory card is provided with an image recording area M1 for recording the images and an information recording area M2 for recording information relating to the image recording area M1. The information recording area M2 is provided with an erasure permission information storage area for recording erasure permission information EA for indicating whether or not the image is erasable. As the erasure permission information EA, data for indicating the priority of erasure inhibition are recorded. The erasure inhibition is indicated when the erasure permission information EA is '0'. It is indicated that most preferential erasure is possible when the erasure permission information EA is '1'. It is indicated that the erasure is possible next when the erasure permission information EA is '2' and it is indicated the erasure is possible after that further when the erasure permission information EA is '3'.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic still camera capable of erasing an image recorded on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an electronic still camera having a function of erasing an image on a recording medium. In such an electronic still camera, for example, when the remaining amount of the recording medium is exhausted, an arbitrary image can be erased by pressing an operation button, thereby generating a recordable image area.

[0003]

For example, when a situation arises in which a new image is desired to be recorded in a state where the remaining amount of the recording medium is exhausted, unnecessary images are searched and erased on the spot while checking. Then, there is a possibility that a shutter chance may be missed due to the time required for this operation. Assuming such a situation, it is possible to transfer unnecessary images in advance to another recording medium or a storage device of a computer and then delete unnecessary images. Deleting an image is complicated.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an erasing operation control device capable of immediately searching for and erasing an unnecessary image even when the remaining amount of the recording medium is running out or running low. And

[0005]

An erasing operation control apparatus for an electronic still camera according to the present invention comprises a recording medium having an image recording area for recording an image and an information recording area for recording information relating to the image recording area. And in the information recording area,
It is characterized by comprising erasure permission information recording means for recording erasure permission information indicating whether an image can be erased and erasure permission information reading means for reading erasure permission information from a recording medium.

The erasing operation control device may include a recording operation executing means for executing an operation of recording an image on a recording medium when the erasing permission information indicates that erasing is possible.

The erasure permission information includes, for example, first erasure permission information permitting erasure with a relatively high priority, and erasure with a lower priority than the erasure permission indicated by the first erasure permission information. And second erasure permission information to be permitted. In this case, the erasing operation control device may include erasing permission information changing means for changing the priority of the erasing permission information.

It is preferable that the erasing operation control device includes a display means for displaying an amount of an image recording area where no image is recorded. In this case, the display means may display the total amount of the erasable image recording area based on the erasure permission information. Alternatively, the display unit may display the total amount of the erasable image recording area and the amount of the image recording area where no image is recorded based on the erasure permission information.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an electrical configuration of an erase operation control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The system controller 11 has a microprocessor and controls the entire apparatus. The solid-state imaging device (CCD) 12 is arranged on the optical axis of a photographic optical system (not shown), and an image obtained by the photographic optical system is formed on a light receiving surface of the CCD 12. A pixel signal corresponding to this image is output from the CCD 12, subjected to predetermined processing such as correlated double sampling (CDS) in an analog signal processing circuit 13, and then converted into a digital signal in an A / D converter 14. .

The digital pixel signal is temporarily stored in a buffer memory 16 via a digital signal processing circuit 15. The digital pixel signals are read from the buffer memory 16 and input to the digital signal processing circuit 15. The image in the digital signal processing circuit 15 is, for example, JPEG
Image compression processing and the like according to the algorithm are performed. The compressed image data output from the digital signal processing circuit 15 is converted into a predetermined format by the memory card controller 17 and recorded on the memory card M, that is, the recording medium.

The pixel signals read from the buffer memory 16 are converted into image data in a predetermined format in a digital signal processing circuit 15 and, under the control of the system controller 11, for example, an image having a liquid crystal display element or the like. The image is transferred to the display device 18 and an image is displayed on the screen of the image display device 18. Further, the image data output from the digital signal processing circuit 15 can be output to the interface circuit 19 under the control of the system controller 11. That is, the image data is converted into a signal conforming to the standard of the external device connected to the output terminal 21 and transmitted to the external device via the output terminal 21.

The system controller 11 includes an operation unit 2
2 and the display unit 23 are connected. The operation unit 22 includes an erasure switch that is operated to set erasure permission information relating to an image recorded on the memory card M or to display the number of recordable image areas on the memory card M, and a shutter release. A switch and the like are provided. The display unit 23 is provided with a liquid crystal display element or the like for displaying an operation mode and the like of the electronic still camera.

FIG. 2 shows an example of data area allocation of one image file formed on the memory card M (see FIG. 1). One image file includes an image recording area M1 for recording an image, and an information recording area M2 for recording information about the image recording area M1. Image recording area M
1, the compressed image data obtained by the digital signal processing circuit 15 (see FIG. 1) is recorded. The information recording area M2 is provided with a header area and an erasure permission information storage area. Information added when compressed image data is recorded in the image recording area M1 is stored in the header area. The erasure permission information storage area includes an image recording area M1.
Is stored, the erasure permission information EA indicating whether or not the image recorded in the erasable area is erasable.

In this embodiment, the erase permission information EA has four types of information as shown in the following table.

That is, the erasure permission information EA (= 0) indicates that it should not be erased. Erasure permission information EA (=
1) indicates that erasing is possible with the highest priority. The erasing permission information EA (= 2) indicates that erasing is possible next to the erasing permission information EA (= 1). The erasing permission information EA (= 3) indicates that erasing is possible next to the erasing permission information EA (= 2).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a program for selecting an image to be erased after the image recording operation on the memory card M is performed and recording the erasure permission information on the memory card M. The execution of this program is started by operating an erase switch provided on the operation unit 22 (see FIG. 1). When an image is recorded in the image recording area M1, the erasure permission information EA is set to 0 as an initial value.

In step 101, the parameter K is set to 1 as an initial value. In step 102, the erasure permission information EA in the K-th image file stored in the memory card M is read. In step 103, it is determined whether or not the erasure permission information EA is 0. As described above, the initial value of the erasure permission information EA is 0. Therefore, for the first time step 10
When Step 3 is executed, the erasure permission information EA is 0, so that the process proceeds to Step 104. That is, on the screen of the display unit 23 (see FIG. 1), the fact that the image is an erasure-prohibited image is displayed. On the other hand, when the erasure permission information EA is set to a value other than 0, the display unit 23
On the screen, the fact that the image is a deletion-permitted image and the priority of the deletion are displayed. For example, when the erasure permission information EA is 1, a message is displayed on the screen of the display unit 23 indicating that the image is an erasure-permitted image and that erasing is possible with the highest priority.

Next, at step 106, the image recorded in the image recording area M1 of the K-th image file is read out and displayed on the screen of the image display device 18 (see FIG. 1). In step 107, it is determined whether or not to change the erasure permission information EA. This is determined based on the setting state of the erase switch of the operation unit 22. If it is to be changed, step 108 is executed, and the new erasure permission information EA set by the erasure switch is input to the system controller 11. In step 109, the erasure permission information EA stored in the K-th erasure permission information storage area is changed to new data. In contrast,
If it is determined in step 107 that the erasure permission information EA is not changed, steps 108 and 109 are skipped.

In step 110, it is determined based on the value of the parameter K whether or not reading of all the images stored in the memory card M has been completed. If all the stored images have not been read yet, the process proceeds to step 111, where it is determined whether or not to end the change of the erasure permission information EA based on the setting state of the erasure switch of the operation unit 22. When the change of the erasure permission information EA is to be continued, the parameter K is incremented by 1 in step 112, and steps 102 and subsequent steps are executed again.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 111 that the change of the erasure permission information EA is to be ended, and if it is determined in step 110 that the reading of all the stored images has been completed, the program ends.

In the flowchart of FIG. 3, the erasable information and the recorded image are separately displayed on the screen of the display unit 23 and the screen of the image display device 18, respectively. The corresponding erasable information may be displayed superimposed thereon. According to this, both can be confirmed at one place.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a program for recording an image on the memory card M. The execution of this program is started by operating a shutter release switch provided on the operation unit 22.

In step 201, it is determined whether or not the memory card M has a free area, that is, an unrecorded image recording area M1 (see FIG. 2). If there is no free area, in step 202, data R indicating the priority of erasing is set to 1 as an initial value. Then, in step 203, the parameter K is set to 1 as an initial value.

In step 204, the erasure permission information EA of the K-th image file is read. Step 205
Then, it is determined whether or not the erasure permission information EA is equal to the priority R. For the first time in this program, step 2
When Step 05 is executed, the priority R is 1. That is, in step 205, it is determined whether or not the erasure permission information EA is 1. When the erasure permission information EA is not 1,
In step 206, the parameter K is the maximum value, that is, the number of images (for example, 5
0) is determined. When the parameter K is not the maximum value, the parameter K is incremented by 1 in step 207, and the process returns to step 203.

Thus, steps 203 and 204,
Steps 205, 206, and 207 are repeatedly executed, and an image file whose erasure permission information EA is 1 is searched. When an image file whose erasure permission information EA is 1 is detected in step 205, the process proceeds to step 208, and a new image is written in the image recording area M1 of the image file. Then, in step 209, the erasure permission information EA of the image file written in step 208 is set to 0 (that is, erasure prohibited state), and the program ends.

When it is determined in step 206 that the parameter K is the maximum value, that is, the erasure permission information E
If there is no image file in which A is 1, the process proceeds from step 206 to step 210, where it is determined whether or not the priority R is 3. When the priority R is not 3,
In step 211, the data of the priority R is incremented by one, and the process returns to step 203. That is, the loop of steps 203 to 207 is executed again, and an image file is searched for the next priority R.

If the image file having the priority R of 3 does not exist in the memory card M, the process proceeds from step 210 to step 212. That is, the memory card M
Displays a message to the effect that images cannot be recorded on the display unit 2.
3 and the program ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 201 that there is a free area, step 213 is executed, and normal image recording is performed. That is, an image is recorded in a predetermined image recording area M1 where an image has not been recorded yet. Then, in step 209, the erasure permission information EA of the image file is set to 0, and the program ends.

As described above, the present embodiment is configured such that, when an image is recorded, a high-priority image file indicated by the data of the erasure permission information EA is searched, and a new image is recorded in the image file. . Therefore, even when the image recording area of the memory card M is exhausted, a new image can be recorded immediately. That is, the photographer does not need to perform an operation of searching for an erasable image, and therefore does not miss a photo opportunity.
Also, since there is no need to delete images in advance,
Handling of the memory card M is simplified.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a program for displaying on the display unit 23 the number of images that can be recorded on the inserted memory card M. This program is executed by operating the buttons of the operation unit 22.

In step 301, the parameter K is set to 1 as an initial value, and the number of erasable image files, that is, the erasable capacity N is set to 0 as an initial value. In step 302, the erasure permission information EA of the K-th image file is read. This erasure permission information EA
Is not 0, that is, when the image can be erased, step 304 is executed and the value of the erasable capacity N is incremented by one. If the erasure permission information EA is 0, step 304 is skipped.

In step 305, it is determined whether all the images recorded on the memory card M have been read. If the reading of all images has not been completed, the parameter K is incremented by 1 in step 306, and the process returns to step 302. This operation is repeated,
If it is determined in step 305 that reading of all images has been completed, steps 307 and subsequent steps are executed.

In step 307, the free space, that is, the number of image recording areas M1 in which no images are recorded is displayed on the screen of the display unit 23. This free space is obtained by subtracting the value of the parameter K from the number of all the image recording areas M1 held by the memory card M. Next, at step 308, the value of the erasable capacity N, that is, the total value of the erasable image recording area M1 is displayed on the screen of the display unit 23. In step 309, the total value of the erasable capacity N and the free capacity is displayed on the screen of the display unit 23, and the program ends.

As described above, according to the program shown in FIG. 5, the free space of the memory card M and the number of images that can be recorded are displayed, so that the number of images that can be recorded can be easily known. Whether or not continuous shooting is possible can be easily determined.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when the remaining amount of the recording medium is exhausted or reduced, the unnecessary image can be immediately searched for and deleted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an erase operation control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of allocation of a data area of one image file formed on a memory card.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a program for selecting an image to be erased and recording erasure permission information on a memory card.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a program for recording an image on a memory card.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a program for displaying the number of images that can be recorded on a memory card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 M recording medium M1 image recording area M2 information recording area EA erasure permission information

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium having an image recording area for recording an image and an information recording area for recording information on the image recording area, and whether or not the image can be erased in the information recording area. An erasing control device for an electronic still camera, comprising: erasing permission information recording means for recording erasing permission information indicating erasing permission information; and erasing permission information reading means for reading the erasing permission information from the recording medium. 2. A recording operation executing means for executing an image recording operation on an image recording area corresponding to the erasable information indicating erasable of the recording medium when the erasure permission information indicates erasable. The erase operation control device according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The erasure permission information includes first erasure permission information permitting erasure with a relatively high priority, and a lower priority than the erasure permission indicated by the first erasure permission information. 2. The erasing operation control device according to claim 1, further comprising second erasing permission information for permitting erasing. 4. An erasure permission information changing means for changing a priority of said erasure permission information is provided.
3. The erase operation control device according to claim 1. 5. The erasing operation control device according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying an amount of an image recording area where no image is recorded. 6. The erasing operation control device according to claim 5, wherein the display means displays a total amount of erasable image recording areas based on the erasing permission information. 7. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays, based on the erasure permission information, a total amount of an erasable image recording area and an image recording area in which the image is not recorded. Item 6. An erase operation control device according to Item 5.