JPH1188627A - Data transmitter, data receiver, data transmission-reception method and image-pickup device using the data transmission-reception method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data transmitter and data receiver or the like for which certainty of data transmission-reception is ensured. SOLUTION: Transmission data information is sent from a device for sending image data (step D3). Here, the transmission information includes a data size, a data format of an image about to be sent and number of image transmission or the like. On the other hand, a step E3, whether or not the transmission data information from the opposite party such as data size, data format of an image about to be sent and number of image transmissions is stored in areas remaining in the image data storage section is discriminated. Then the result of discrimination is sent (step E5), the content of the data reception discrimination result sent from the opposite party is discriminated in a step D7. The in the case that the contents of the data reception discrimination of data sent from the opposite party indicate 'the reception available ', the data information discrimination processing is finished and then data transmission is started.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a data transmitting apparatus for transmitting image data and the like, a data receiving apparatus for receiving the data, a method for transmitting and receiving image data and the like, and an imaging apparatus using the data transmitting and receiving method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a so-called digital camera having a function of converting a still image into digital data by an image pickup device, compressing and recording the data into a memory, reading out and expanding the data, and reproducing the photographed image. ing. On the other hand, it is becoming common to transmit and receive data between devices that handle digital data, such as digital cameras, using some kind of communication means (wired or wireless).

[0003]

However, in the current digital camera, the method of data compression / expansion is the JP method.
Although it is standardized in accordance with the EG (Joint Photographic Coding Experts Group), the shooting resolution (vertical and horizontal dot ratio) differs depending on the manufacturer and model, and the file compression ratio according to the shooting mode such as high image quality mode and standard mode, Alternatively, the image processing method is different. In addition, since it is generally unknown about the mode at the time of shooting of the partner device or the specifications of the device in both the transmitting and receiving devices, it is impossible for the partner device to receive data due to the specifications and the like. In spite of this, transmission is performed, and a useless transmission operation is performed. Also, even if the specifications and the like of both devices that transmit and receive are the same, depending on the data storage capacity of the receiving device, there may be cases where all the transmitted data is not reliably received, thereby ensuring the reliability of data transmission and reception. Can not do.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and is directed to a data transmitting apparatus, a data receiving apparatus, a data transmitting / receiving method, and a data transmitting / receiving method capable of ensuring the reliability of data transmission / reception. It is an object to provide an imaging device used.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a data transmitting apparatus according to the present invention comprises a transmitting means for transmitting data, and a transmitting means for transmitting the data prior to transmitting the data by the transmitting means. A data information transmitting unit for transmitting a data format or a capacity, a receiving unit for receiving response information transmitted in response to the information transmitted by the data information transmitting unit, and the response received by the receiving unit Control means for controlling the transmission means based on the information.

In such a configuration, the data information transmitting means transmits a data format and a capacity relating to the data to be transmitted, for example, a data format, a data size, a data arrangement, and the like of the data. When response information is transmitted from the partner device in response to this, the receiving unit receives the response information, and the control unit controls the transmission unit based on the response information, so that data transmission is performed. . Therefore, since data is transmitted depending on the response information from the partner device, the reliability of data reception by the partner device is inevitably secured.

Further, the data receiving apparatus of the present invention comprises: receiving means for receiving data; data information receiving means for receiving information on the data transmitted prior to data reception by the receiving means; There is provided a determining means for determining whether or not the data can be received based on the information transmitted by the data information receiving means, and a transmitting means for transmitting the determination result of the determining means.

In this configuration, when the data information receiving means receives the information about the data transmitted prior to the data, the determining means determines whether or not the data can be received based on the information. The transmitting means transmits this determination result. Therefore, in the device on the data transmitting side, it is possible to determine in advance whether or not to transmit by recognizing the receivability of the receiving side, so that the transmission can be performed in spite of the inability to receive. The unnecessary transmission operation that is performed is avoided.

In the data transmission / reception method of the present invention, prior to data transmission, data information transmission processing for transmitting information related to the data, and reception of the information transmitted by the data information reception processing Data information receiving process, a determining process of determining whether or not the data can be received based on the information received by the data information receiving process, and a determination result of transmitting a determination result by the determining process A transmission process, a determination result reception process of receiving the determination result transmitted by the determination result transmission process, and a transmission process of transmitting the data according to the determination result received by the determination result reception process. Execute.

Therefore, when data is transmitted, information about the data is transmitted prior to the transmission of the data. When the information about the data is received, it is determined whether or not the data can be received based on the information. The judgment result is transmitted, the judgment result is received, and the data is transmitted based on the judgment result. Therefore, the data transmission is started after it is determined whether or not the data can be received, so that the case where the transmission is performed despite the fact that the data cannot be received is avoided, and the transmission and reception can be reliably performed. Nature is secured.

Further, in the imaging apparatus according to the present invention, a storage means for storing the captured image data and the received image data; a transmission means for transmitting the image data stored in the storage means; Data information transmitting means for transmitting information about the image data prior to transmission of the image data by the means; and receiving the information transmitted by the data information receiving means, and storing the image data in the storage means. Determining means for determining whether or not is possible,
A determination result transmitting means for transmitting a determination result by the determining means, and a control means for operating the transmitting means in accordance with the determination result transmitted by the determination result transmitting means.

Therefore, when transmitting image data from one imaging device to the other imaging device, information on the image data is transmitted from one imaging device prior to this, and the information on the image data is transmitted to the other imaging device. The image is received by the device, and the determination unit determines whether the image data can be stored in the storage unit of the imaging device, and the determination result transmission unit transmits the determination result. Then, one of the imaging devices operates the transmitting unit in accordance with the determination result transmitted by the determination result transmitting unit, and transmits the image data stored in the storage unit. Therefore, the image data can be transmitted and received only when the storage unit of the other imaging device can store the received image data, and the reliable transmission and storage of the image data are ensured.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1A and 1B are external views of a digital camera to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in the figure, the digital camera has a rectangular parallelepiped main body 1.
A display screen 2 is disposed on the back of the main body 1, a lens 3 is disposed on a front corner, and a shutter key 4 and other keys 5 are disposed on an upper surface. Has a video OUT terminal 6 and a serial I / O terminal 7. Other keys 5 are a mode selection key for selectively setting a recording mode, a reproduction mode, and a communication mode, a communication mode key for selectively setting a transmission mode and a reception mode in the communication mode, and an image to be transmitted. It is composed of image selection keys for selecting data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the digital camera according to the present embodiment. An image pickup circuit section 8 is disposed behind the lens 3. The imaging circuit unit 8 includes a CCD
An A / D converter for converting the photoelectric conversion output from the CCD into digital data; and a signal processor for separating the digital data from the A / D converter into luminance information and color difference information. ing. The CPU 9 controls the operation of each unit in accordance with key operation information from a key input unit 10 including the shutter key 4 and other keys 5 and a program stored in an internal ROM. That is, the CPU 9 records the image data in the image data recording unit 12 in response to the operation of the shutter key 4, reads the image data from the image data recording unit 12 in the reproduction mode, and performs the serial I / O in the communication mode.
Transmission and reception of data with other devices via the terminal 7 are performed.
The DRAM 11 is used as a work area of the CPU 9.

The JPEG circuit 13 converts the digital data fetched from the imaging circuit section 8 via the CPU 9 into a JPEG
An operation of compressing the data into a format or decompressing the compressed data read from the image data storage unit 12 and expanding the data on the VRAM 14 is performed. The video encoder 15 is a VRAM1
4 sequentially scans the image data developed on the display device 1
6 or output from the video OUT terminal 6.
The OSD 17 sends data to the video encoder 15 so that a character stored in advance is displayed in response to an instruction from the CPU 9.

The compression process in the JPEG circuit 13 is roughly divided into three stages. The first stage is a discrete cosine transform called DCT, which transforms a coordinate system. In the next stage, using a quantization table, D
Quantization of the CT data is performed. The compression rate is controlled by the value of the quantization table used at this time, and the code generation amount is thereby determined. Here, the quantization method differs depending on whether the code amount per one image finally generated is fixed or the quantization table is fixed. For example, when the code amount is fixed, the quantization process is performed a plurality of times using different quantization tables in order to fit all images captured by the imaging circuit unit 8 into a predetermined code amount. An optimal quantization table is obtained by satisfying the code amount, and the generated code amount is made constant. Further, when the quantization table is fixed, the quantization is performed once using the quantization table, and thus the generated code amount varies. Then, the code generated by the quantization in the third stage is compressed by Huffman coding. That is, compression is performed by converting a generated code into a Huffman code using a Huffman table.

When the code amount is fixed, as shown in FIG. 3A as “case of fixed length of file size”, the image data storage unit 12 is stored for every predetermined file size. Divided to form data 0 to data n regions 12b each having the same predetermined capacity,
A header area 12a is formed at the beginning. Also, as shown in FIG. 3B, by adding information indicating the number of image files allocated to the header area 12a, which part of the data 0 to data n area 12b is added. It is possible to determine whether or not the number of remaining recordable images has been recorded and whether or not the transferred image file can be recorded.

When the quantization table is fixed,
In other words, if the file size is variable,
(A) As shown in the case of "file size variable length", an image file is recorded following the header area 12c at the head, and the data area 12d is divided for each image file. Is left as an empty area 12e. In the header area 12c, as shown in FIG. 3B, the head address of the area where each image file is recorded is sequentially written, and finally the head address of the writable area (free area 12e) is written. . Therefore, it is possible to determine whether or not the next image can be recorded or whether or not the transferred image file can be recorded, based on the start address of the writable area.

In this embodiment having the above-described configuration, when the recording mode is set, the imaging circuit unit 8 converts the photoelectric conversion output at regular intervals into image data, and converts the luminance signal and the color difference signal into the DRAM 11. To be temporarily stored. After completing the transfer of the image data to the DRAM 11, the CPU 9 reads the image data from the DRAM 11 and writes the image data to the VRAM 14 via the JPEG circuit 13. The video encoder 15 creates a video signal based on image data that is periodically read from the VRAM 14, and the created video signal is supplied to the display device 16.
An image based on the image information taken from the PC is displayed.

When the image is currently displayed on the display device 16 as described above, the key input unit 10 is operated at the timing of recording and saving, that is, the timing of photographing.
A trigger is generated when the shutter key 4 provided in the operation is operated. Then, the CPU 9 stops the path from the imaging circuit unit 8 to the DRAM 11 immediately after the transfer of the image data for one screen currently taken in from the imaging circuit unit 8 to the DRAM 11 in response to the trigger, and stores and saves the data. State. In this recording and saving state, the CPU 9
Data of one image written in the RAM 11 is read, compressed by the JPEG circuit 13, and recorded in the image data recording unit 12. At this time, as described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, recording of header information in the header areas 12 a and 12 c is performed in a recording mode corresponding to a case where the file size is fixed length and a case where the file size is variable.
Recording is performed in the data area 12b or the free area 12e. When the writing of the header information and the entire compressed data for one screen to the image data recording unit 12 is completed, C
The PU 9 activates the path from the imaging circuit unit 8 to the DRAM 11 again, and repeats the above operation at each timing when the shutter key 4 is operated, so that the image data captured at each timing is stored in the image data recording unit 12. Go recorded.

When the image data stored in the image data storage unit 12 is transferred to another digital camera, the serial data of one digital camera as a transfer source and the other digital camera as a transfer destination are serially connected. The I / O terminal 7 is connected via a cable. Thereafter, when the communication mode is set by a key operation on the key input unit 10 of both digital cameras, the CPU 9 of each digital camera is set.
Starts operation according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the key input information of the key input unit 10 is fetched (step A1), and it is determined whether the transmission mode or the reception mode has been set based on the key input information (step A2). Then, when the transmission mode is set, a transmission-side communication path determination process described later (step A
After executing 3) and the data information transmission process (step A4), the data transmission process is executed (step A5). When the receiving mode is set, the receiving side communication path determination processing (step A6) and the data information receiving processing (step A7) to be described later are executed, and then the data receiving processing is executed (step A8).

The transmission-side communication path determination process (step A)
3) is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6A, and the transmitting serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 having the transmitting serial port and the receiving side serial port is activated (set) (step B1). ), Predetermined communication channel confirmation data is transmitted from the transmission serial port (step B2). Next, the state of the transmission completion flag which is set upon completion of the transmission of the communication path confirmation data is checked (step B3). If the transmission of the communication path confirmation data is completed and the transmission completion flag is set, Then, the serial port for reception of the serial I / O terminal 7 is activated (step B4). Next, the reception completion flag set by receiving the acknowledgment from the partner is checked (step B5), and the standby state is maintained until the reception completion flag is set.

On the other hand, the receiving-side communication path determination processing (step A6) is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6B, and the receiving serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 is activated (step C1). Next, the state of the reception completion flag that is set when the reception of the signal transmitted from the other party is completed is checked (step C2), and the standby state is maintained until the reception completion flag is set. When a signal from the other party is received and the reception completion flag is set, it is determined whether or not the signal from the other party contains communication path determination data (step C3), and the communication path determination data is included. If not, the loop of steps C2 → C3 → C3 is repeated without receiving the communication path determination data without proceeding to the next step.

When the other party's digital camera receives the communication path confirmation data transmitted in step B2,
Proceeding from step C3 to step C4, the serial I / O
The transmission serial port of the terminal 7 is activated. Continued
The communication path determination data is transmitted from the serial port for transmission of the activated serial I / O terminal 7 (step C).
5). Further, a transmission completion flag which is set when the transmission of the communication path determination data is completed is checked (step C6). When the transmission of the communication path determination data is completed and the transmission completion flag is set, the transmission completion flag is set. The receiving-side communication path determination processing (step A6) ends, and the next data information reception processing (step A7) starts.

On the other hand, steps B4 and B5 in FIG.
Then, the digital camera which is the transmission source which is waiting by activating the reception serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 receives the acknowledgment transmitted from the other party in the processing of the above-described step C5 to receive the signal. When the completion flag is set, the process proceeds from step B5 to step B6. Then, it is determined whether or not the acknowledgment from the other party includes predetermined communication path determination data (step B6). Only when the communication path determination data is included, the transmission-side communication path determination processing is performed. (Step A3) ends, and the next data information transmission process (step A4) starts.

That is, as shown in the flow charts of FIGS. 6A and 6B, the transmission-side digital camera transmits the communication path confirmation data, and the receiving-side digital camera responds to the communication path determination data. The data is transmitted and received by the digital camera on the transmitting side, so that the digital camera on the transmitting side proceeds from the path determination processing on the transmitting side (step A3) to the data information transmitting processing (step A4), and In the digital camera described above, the process proceeds from the reception-side path determination processing (step A6) to the data information reception processing (step A7).

The data information transmission process (step A4) executed by the digital camera on the transmission side is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7A, and first, a transmission image selection process (step D1) is executed. The transmission image selection process is a process of selecting image data of an image to be transmitted from the image data recording unit 8, and operating an image selection key with the key input unit 10 to store the image data in the data area 12 b Alternatively, when one or more of 12d is designated, the image recorded in the designated area is selected. Next, the transmission serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 is activated (step D2), and transmission data information is transmitted from the activated transmission serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 (step D3). Here, the transmission data information includes the data size of the image to be transmitted, the data format of the image (within the JPEG standard), the number of transmissions, and the like.

When the transmission data information has been transmitted, the transmission completion flag which is set upon completion of transmission of the transmission data information is checked (step D4), and upon completion of transmission, the transmission completion flag is set. If
The receiving serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 is activated (step D5). Further, the state of the reception completion flag which is set by receiving a data reception determination result from the other party described later is checked (step D6), and the reception of the serial I / O terminal 7 is performed until the reception completion flag is set. Standby with the serial port active.

On the other hand, the data information receiving process (step A7) is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 (b), and the serial port for reception of the serial I / O terminal 7 is activated (step E1). The reception completion flag that is set upon completion of reception of the transmission data information is checked (step E2). Then, when the reception of the transmission data information from the other party is completed and the reception completion flag is set accordingly, a data information determination process is performed (step E3). In this data information determination process, the image data size, the image data format, and the number of images to be transmitted indicated by the transmission data information from the receiving party are stored in the image data storage unit 12 of the own device. This is a process of determining whether or not the data can be stored in the recording data area 12b or the free area 12e. At this time, the image data recording unit 12 stores the data shown in FIGS.
Since the header information shown in (b) is recorded, the transmitted image data can be recorded in the image data recording unit 12 by comparing the header information with the transmission data information from the other party. Can be determined.

When this determination is made, the transmission serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 is activated (step E4), and data reception determination is performed from the transmission serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7. The result, that is, the result of the determination as to whether reception is possible or not is transmitted (step E5). Subsequently, the state of the transmission completion flag that is set upon completion of the transmission of the determination result is checked (step E6). If the transmission completion flag is set upon completion of the transmission, the data information reception processing is terminated. Then, the next data receiving process (step A8 in FIG. 5) is started.

On the other hand, steps D5 and D6 in FIG.
Then, in the transmission source digital camera which has started the reception serial port of the serial I / O terminal 7 and is on standby, upon receiving the data reception determination result transmitted from the partner by the processing of the above-described step E5, , The reception completion flag is set, and the process proceeds from step D6 to step D7. Then, in this step D7,
A result determination is performed to determine the content (receivable or non-receivable) of the data reception determination result transmitted from the other party. If the result of the data reception determination is “unreceivable” (No), a predetermined warning is displayed on the display device 16 (step D8).

Therefore, the user operating the transfer source digital camera can recognize that the selected image cannot be received by the other party's digital camera by visually recognizing the warning display. Countermeasures against this, such as reducing the number of images, can be taken.
That is, after performing the process of step D8, the process returns to step D1, so that a smaller number of images or an image with a smaller data amount are selected in the transmission image selection process (step D1) executed again. By doing so, it becomes possible to make the amount of transmission data correspond to the remaining storage capacity of the partner device.

If the result of the determination in step D7 is that the result of the data reception determination transmitted from the other party is "receivable", this data information determination processing (step A4 in FIG. 5) is performed. After ending, the next data transmission process (step A5) is executed. Then, in this data transmission processing, the image data of the image selected in the transmission image selection processing (step D1) is transmitted. Then, the other digital camera that is the transfer destination performs step A
In the receiving process 8, the transmitted image data is received and recorded in the image data recording unit 12. At this time, the received image data is receivable, that is, received by the image data recording unit 1 by the data information determination processing performed in advance.
Since it is confirmed that recording can be performed on the second digital camera, the image data transmitted from one digital camera is reliably recorded on the image data recording unit 12 of the other digital camera.

In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a digital camera, and the case where image data is transferred from one digital camera to the other digital camera has been described. Of course, the present invention can be applied to a device having a data transfer function and can be applied to data transfer between different devices.
Also, the data to be transferred is not limited to image data, but may be other data such as character data. Transmission and reception is not limited to a wire such as a telephone line, and may be performed wirelessly, or may be performed by infrared communication using IrDA. You may. .

As described above, according to the present invention, prior to data transmission, a data format or a capacity relating to the data is transmitted, and the data is transmitted in response to the information. Since data transmission is performed, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of useless transmission operation in which data transmission is performed even when the other party cannot receive data, and the reliability of data transmission / reception is ensured. Can be secured. In addition, when data is not transmitted based on response information, this is reported,
It is possible to take measures when data transmission is impossible.

According to the present invention, information on data transmitted prior to data reception is received, and based on this information, it is determined whether the data can be received and transmitted. Thus, it is possible to prevent a wasteful transmission operation in which data is transmitted from the partner device in spite of being unable to receive data. Further, since it is determined whether or not the data can be received based on the information on the received data and the storage capacity of the storage means for storing the data, the occurrence of useless transmission operation is prevented. This can be prevented beforehand, and the storage reliability of the received data can be ensured.

[0036]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an appearance of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the digital camera viewed from a different direction.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a memory configuration diagram of an image data storage unit when a data file size is a fixed length, and FIG. 3B is a transition diagram of header information.

4A is a memory configuration diagram of an image data storage unit when a data file size is variable, and FIG. 4B is a transition diagram of header information.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a CPU in a communication mode according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6A is a flowchart illustrating the content of a transmission-side communication path determination process, and FIG. 6B is a flowchart illustrating the content of a reception-side communication channel determination process.

FIG. 7A is a flowchart illustrating the content of a data information transmission process, and FIG. 7B is a flowchart illustrating the content of a data information reception process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 imaging circuit unit 8 flash memory 8P (flash memory) block 9 CPU 11a storage device 11b storage medium 12 RAM

Claims (10)

[Claims] A transmitting means for transmitting data; a data information transmitting means for transmitting a data format or a capacity of the data prior to transmitting the data by the transmitting means; Receiving means for receiving response information transmitted in response to the information, based on the response information received by the receiving means,
A data transmission device comprising: a control unit that controls the transmission unit. 2. The data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said data is image data stored in a storage medium. 3. The data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying unit for notifying the transmitting unit when the controlling unit does not operate the transmitting unit based on the response information. 4. Receiving means for receiving data, data information receiving means for receiving information on the data transmitted prior to data reception by the receiving means, A data receiving apparatus, comprising: a determination unit that determines whether the data can be received based on the information, and a transmission unit that transmits a determination result of the determination unit. 5. The determination means determines whether or not the data can be received based on the information received by the data information reception means and a storage capacity of a predetermined storage means for storing the data. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determination is made.
The data receiving device according to the above. 6. A data information transmitting process for transmitting information on the data prior to the data transmission, a data information receiving process for receiving the information transmitted by the data information receiving process, and a data information receiving process. A determination process for determining whether or not the data can be received based on the information received by the process, a determination result transmission process for transmitting a determination result by the determination process, and a transmission by the determination result transmission process A data transmission / reception method, comprising: executing a determination result receiving process of receiving the determined determination result; and transmitting the data in accordance with the determination result received by the determination result receiving process. . 7. In the determining process, it is determined whether or not the data can be received based on the information received in the data information receiving process and a storage capacity of a predetermined storage unit that stores the data. 7. The data transmission / reception method according to claim 6, wherein the determination is performed. 8. The data transmission / reception method according to claim 7, further comprising, if the data is not transmitted according to the result of the determination, a notification process for notifying the data. 9. A storage unit for storing captured image data and received image data, a transmission unit for transmitting the image data stored in the storage unit, and a transmission unit for transmitting the image data by the transmission unit. A data information transmitting unit for transmitting information relating to the image data; and receiving the information transmitted by the data information receiving unit, and determining whether image data can be stored in the storage unit. Determining means for performing the determination, transmitting a determination result by the determining means, and controlling means for operating the transmitting means according to the determination result transmitted by the determination result transmitting means. An imaging device characterized by the above-mentioned. 10. The imaging apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a notifying unit for notifying the transmitting unit when the control unit does not operate the transmitting unit based on the response information.