JPH11150703A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recorder that is made small in size. SOLUTION: Relating to this image recorder, image data received from a CCD 101 by a frame transfer system are stored in a frame memory 111, and an NTSC encoder section 105 converts the image data read from the frame memory 111 into image data of the field scanning system and provides an output of the image data on a monitor. Time division control is applied to a data bus 113 and the image data from the CCD 101 are written in the frame memory 111 via a data bus 113 for a prescribed transfer time through the use of a recording line memory 103, and after the image data from the frame memory 111 are outputted to a reproduction line memory 106 via the data bus 113 by using other transfer time, the data are outputted to the NTSC encoder section 105.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for electronically capturing image data and recording the image data on a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional image recording apparatus, when synchronization timing is different between an image capturing section and an image reproducing section, recording and / or reproducing is performed using a dual port frame memory to which different data buses are connected for input and output. In general, a method of independently controlling playback time management is performed.

In an image recording apparatus using this method, when image data captured by an imaging system is compressed and decompressed by data processing, a frame memory for a work area is prepared separately from a frame memory for storing image data. There is a need to. For this reason, the frame memory has been inevitably increased in the entire system of the image recording apparatus. Hereinafter, a conventional image recording apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional image recording apparatus. The image recording apparatus in FIG. 5 has an imaging / reproduction processing system and an image compression / decompression processing system. The imaging / reproduction processing system includes a CCD (charge coupled device) 501 for electronically capturing an image, an imaging signal processing unit 502 for performing image processing such as color separation, and an NTSC encoder unit 504 for performing image data processing for reproduction.
A D / A conversion unit 506 for converting digital image data for reproduction into analog data; a timing generation unit 503 for generating timings of an imaging system and a reproduction system; A dual port image frame memory 505 for outputting data.

The image compression / expansion processing system includes a system control unit (CPU) 508 for controlling the entire system, and a compression / expansion processing unit 509 for compressing / expanding captured image data.
And a frame memory 507 for temporarily storing image data to be compressed and expanded, and a memory card control unit 510 for recording the compressed image data on a memory card.

When an image read from a CCD 501, which is an image input device for a personal computer, is output to a general analog television using the image recording apparatus having the above configuration, the image data is progressively scanned (non-interlaced) from the CCD 501. That is, it is taken in by the frame transfer method. On the other hand, the output image data to the TV is
The field scanning (interlaced scanning) method is used. As described above, since the scanning methods of the input image data and the output image data are different, the dual-port image frame memory 505 is used.
And control of recording and reproduction is performed independently by using the data, and reproduction data is created by converting a scanning method.

[0007]

However, the above-mentioned conventional image recording apparatus uses a dual-port image frame memory 505 to convert the scanning system between the recorded image and the reproduced image. For this reason, a data bus for input and a data bus for output to the image frame memory 505 are required, and the data bus area becomes large.

Further, the conventional image recording apparatus further requires a frame memory 507 for a work area for the compression / expansion processing in addition to the image frame memory 505, and the memory area becomes large.

As described above, since the conventional image recording apparatus has a large data bus area and a large memory area, it is difficult to store the image recording apparatus in a portable system, for example, a digital still camera. .

An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus that can be downsized.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image recording apparatus comprising: an image input unit for receiving an image as image data of a first scanning method; and a first image storage unit for storing the image data received from the image input unit. Storage means, image data conversion means for converting image data of the first scanning method read from the first storage means to image data of the second scanning method,
A data bus connected to the image input means, the first storage means, and the image data conversion means for transferring the image data; a transfer time for transferring the image data from the image input means to the first storage means; And control means for performing time-division control on the transfer time for transferring the image data from the storage means to the image data conversion means.

In the image recording apparatus according to the present invention, the time required to transfer the image data of the first scanning method to the first storage means is obtained by time-dividing the data bus.
And the transfer time for transferring the image data from the storage means to the image data conversion means, and the image data can be transferred using the same data bus. For this reason, the area width of the data bus is reduced by sharing the data bus, and the image recording apparatus can be downsized.

The first storage means has a common input / output unit for receiving image data from the connected data bus and reading the stored image data to the data bus. Thereby, a general-purpose memory such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) is used as the first storage means.
Can be used, and the cost of the image recording apparatus can be reduced.

Further, a first temporary storage unit for adjusting the timing of outputting the image data taken in from the image input means to the data bus, and the image data read from the first storage means through the data bus. And a second temporary storage unit for adjusting the timing of outputting the image data to the image data conversion means.

Thus, the image data is transferred from the image input means to the first storage means at each of the time-divided transfer times using the common data bus, and the image data is transferred from the first storage means to the image data conversion means. Data can be transferred.

A compression means for compressing the image data taken in from the image input means to create compressed data;
A second storage unit for storing the compressed data; and a decompression unit for decompressing the compressed data read from the second storage unit, wherein the compression unit stores the image data captured from the image input unit in the first storage unit. The data is compressed using the storage means, and the expansion means expands the compressed data read from the second storage means using the first storage means.

This makes it possible to perform compression and decompression of image data taken in from the image input means using the first storage means, thereby reducing the number of components of the storage means and reducing the size of the image recording apparatus. Can be

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes an image input unit that captures an image as image data of a first scanning method, and a first image storage unit that stores the image data captured from the image input unit. Storage means, and image data conversion means for converting image data of the first scanning method read from the first storage means to image data of the second scanning method,
A data bus connected to the image input means, the first storage means, and the image data conversion means for transferring the image data; a transfer time for transferring the image data from the image input means to the first storage means; And a control means for time-dividing the transfer time for transferring the image data from the storage means to the image data conversion means.

Thus, the area width of the data bus connected to the first storage means is reduced, so that the size of the image recording apparatus can be reduced.

An image recording apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the image recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention.
Has a common input / output unit for receiving the image data from the connected data bus and reading out the stored image data to the data bus.

As a result, a general-purpose memory such as a DRAM can be used as the first storage means, and the cost of the image recording apparatus can be reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image recording apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the timing for outputting the image data taken in from the image input means to the data bus is provided. First to adjust
And a second temporary storage unit for adjusting the timing of outputting the image data read from the first storage unit to the image data conversion unit via the data bus.

With this, the image data is transferred from the image input means to the first storage means at each time-division transfer time using the common data bus, and the image data is transferred from the first storage means to the image data conversion means. Data can be transferred.

An image recording apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the image recording apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the image data taken in from the image input means is compressed and compressed. The image processing apparatus further includes compression means for creating data, second storage means for storing the compressed data, and decompression means for decompressing the compressed data read from the second storage means. The obtained image data is compressed using the first storage means, and the expansion means expands the compressed data read from the second storage means using the first storage means.

This makes it possible to perform compression and decompression of image data taken in from the image input means using the first storage means, thereby reducing the number of parts of the storage means and reducing the size of the image recording apparatus. Can be

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image recording apparatus according to the present invention functionally comprises three blocks: an imaging processing block, a reproduction processing block, and a system control block.

An image pickup processing block includes a CCD 101 for electronically picking up an image, an image pickup signal processing unit 102 for converting the picked-up image data into digital data and performing image processing such as color separation, and a frame to be described later. A recording line memory 103 for temporarily storing digital data so as to match the time-divided recording timing of the data bus when writing to the memory.

Further, the reproduction processing block includes a reproduction line memory 106 for temporarily storing the digital data read out so as to be synchronized with the time-divided reproduction timing of the data bus when reading the digital data from the frame memory. And NTS for reproducing the read digital data.
It comprises an NTSC encoder 105 for converting digital data of the C system into digital data, and a D / A converter 108 for converting digital data for output to analog data.

Further, the system control block includes a compression / decompression processing unit 11 for compressing / decompressing the image data obtained by imaging.
0, a frame memory 111 for temporarily storing image data
A memory card control unit 112 for storing compressed image data in a memory card; a system control unit (CPU) 109 for controlling the entire system of the image recording apparatus; and a timing signal for recording and reproducing image data. And a video data control unit 107 for controlling the write address and read address of the image data in the frame memory 111.

In the present embodiment, the CCD 101 and the imaging signal processing unit 102 correspond to the image input means of the present invention, the frame memory 111 corresponds to the first storage means,
The NTSC encoder 105 corresponds to image data conversion means, the line memory 103 corresponds to a first temporary storage, the line memory 106 corresponds to a second temporary storage,
The compression / decompression processing unit 110 corresponds to a compression unit and a decompression unit, the memory card control unit 112 and the memory card correspond to a second storage unit, and the system control unit 109 corresponds to a control unit.

Next, the operation of the image recording apparatus having the above configuration will be described. (1) Image Monitoring Operation First, in an image recording process, image data picked up by the CCD 101 is output to the image pickup signal processing unit 102 and subjected to image processing such as color conversion and enhancement processing. Then, as one frame of digital image data of the frame transfer system, the line memory 103 for recording, the image data control unit 1
07 and the frame memory 11 through the data bus 113.
Stored in 1.

Next, in the image reproduction process, the image data control unit 107 controls the frame memory 1 to reproduce the image data of the frame transfer system stored in the frame memory 111 as image data of two fields of the NTSC system.
The image data is read out by controlling the read-out address of the image data from line 11 for each line of each field, and is read via the line memory 106 for reproduction.
Output to the encoder unit 105. In the NTSC encoder 105, an odd number /
The image data of even two fields is created and output to the D / A conversion unit 108. The D / A converter 108 converts the output digital image data into analog image data and outputs the analog image data to an external television. Thus, the captured image can be monitored on a television in real time.

The data bus 113 to which the frame memory 111 is connected is used for recording and reproduction of image data. For this reason, the system control unit 109 uses the timing generated by the timing generation unit 104 to divide the use time of the data bus 113 into a recording process and a reproduction process. And at the time of recording process,
The image data output from the imaging signal processing unit 102 is compressed on the time axis using the line memory 103 for recording, and the image data is stored in the frame memory 111 in the use time area of the data bus 113 allocated for recording. Write.

At the time of reproduction processing, image data is read from the frame memory 111 in the use time area of the data bus 113 allocated for reproduction. by this,
The captured image data can be directly reproduced in real time as a monitor output to an image display system such as a television via one frame memory 111.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart at the time of monitoring of the image recording apparatus. The image recording apparatus according to this embodiment reads an image of 15 frames per second by a progressive scan (non-interlaced) image sensor (CCD) and converts it into an NTSC (60 fields per second) signal as a reproduced image. Output. Then, in order to directly output the image data captured by the image sensor to the monitor,
The image data captured by the image sensor and the reproduced image data are time-division multiplexed on the same bus.

In FIG. 2, CCD-HD indicates the timing of capturing image data from the CCD.
“ata” indicates the captured image data. Bus-
Dir indicates a data transfer direction on the data bus. That is, “Read” indicates the transfer time of the image data from the frame memory 111 to the line memory 106 for reproduction, and “Write” indicates the transfer time of the line memory 103 for recording.
The transfer time of the image data from the image data to the frame memory 111 is shown. Frm-Data is the frame memory 111
And the image data "W" read from the image memory and the image data "W" written to the frame memory. Further, NTSC-HD indicates the output timing of the reproduction data, and NTSC-Data indicates the reproduction image data.

The data bus is divided into Read and Write times with respect to the 1H timing of the CCD.
At the ad time, image data for reproduction is read from the frame memory 111 for two lines to the line memory 106, and
Image data for recording is written from the line memory 103 to the frame memory 111 for one line at the time of the item.

(2) Image Compression / Expansion Processing When compressing one frame of captured image data and storing it in the card memory, the data bus 113 of the reproduction processing system is disconnected, and one frame of image data is transferred from the CCD 101 to the frame memory 111. The image processing system occupies the data bus 113 until the data bus 113 is stored. FIG. 3 is a timing chart at the time of compression processing of the image recording apparatus. In FIG. 3, when the image of one frame is compressed and stored in the card memory, the reproduction processing system is disconnected from the data bus 113. Then, one frame of image data is written to the frame memory 111 using the time required to write the image data to the frame memory 111 on the data bus 113.

After one frame of image data is stored in the frame memory 111, the data bus 113 is opened to the system control unit 109, and the data is compressed by the compression / decompression processing unit 110. The data is converted into a predetermined data format and recorded on the memory card.

When the image data recorded on the memory card is reproduced, the compressed data is sent from the memory card to the compression / decompression processing section 110, subjected to decompression processing, and stored in the frame memory 111 as one frame data. After the frame data is decompressed, the data bus 113 is opened to the reproduction processing system.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart at the time of decompression processing of the image recording apparatus. In FIG. 4, one frame of image data is transferred through a data bus 113 to a line memory 10 for reproduction.
6, after being converted into a field image by the NTSC encoder unit 105, an encoding process is performed and N
The image is output as a TSC image.

With the above configuration, even in a system in which the timing of the imaging processing system and the timing of the image reproduction system are different, the frame memory 111 can be shared by time-division multiplexing on the same data bus 113. By sharing the data bus 113, a general-purpose DRA
It is possible to configure the frame memory 111 with M or the like.

Further, since the capacity of the line memories 103 and 106 is smaller than that of the frame memory 111, the line memories 103 and 106 can be easily incorporated into the IC of the imaging signal processing unit 102. As a result, the memory area can be reduced and the data bus 11 can be reduced.
3, the width of the area can be reduced, and the size of the image recording apparatus can be reduced.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an image recording apparatus that handles image data of different frame scanning methods in an imaging processing system and a reproducing system, the time distribution of the data bus is controlled by the control means for each line. By controlling, the input / output data bus can be easily shared. In addition, the number of memories and the width of the data bus can be reduced, and a general-purpose memory (DRA) can be used without using a dual port memory specialized for an image frame memory as in the related art.
M etc.) can be used. This makes it possible to simultaneously reduce the size and cost of the image recording apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart during monitoring of the image recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart during compression processing of the image recording apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart at the time of decompression processing of the image recording apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional image recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 CCD 102 imaging signal processing unit 103, 106 line memory 104 timing generation unit 105 NTSC encoder unit 107 image data control unit 108 D / A conversion unit 109 system control unit 110 compression / decompression processing unit 111 frame memory 112 memory card control unit 113 data bus

Claims (4)

[Claims] An image input unit that captures an image as image data of a first scanning method; a first storage unit that stores the image data captured from the image input unit; and a first storage unit that stores the image data. Image data conversion means for converting the read image data of the first scanning method into image data of the second scanning method, and connected to the image input means, the first storage means, and the image data conversion means A data bus for transferring image data, and the data bus,
Control means for performing time-division control on a transfer time for transferring image data from the image input means to the first storage means and a transfer time for transferring image data from the first storage means to the image data conversion means; An image recording apparatus, comprising: 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first storage unit has a common input / output unit for receiving the image data from the connected data bus and reading the stored image data to the data bus. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A first temporary storage unit for adjusting a timing of outputting the image data fetched from the image input unit to the data bus, and reading from the first storage unit through the data bus. 3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second temporary storage unit for adjusting a timing at which the image data is output to the image data conversion unit. 4. Compression means for compressing the image data taken from the image input means to create compressed data.
Second storage means for storing the compressed data;
Decompression means for decompressing the compressed data read from the storage means, wherein the compression means compresses the image data fetched from the image input means using the first storage means, 4. An image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means decompresses said compressed data read from said second storage means using said first storage means.