KR101364535B1 - Method of controlling digital image processing apparatus and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, at least one still image can be continuously captured by one operation of a shutter release button and stored in a storage medium. (A) The temporary storage memory can be stored in a temporary storage memory by an ON signal of the shutter release button. Storing pictures of the still image in succession; And (b) storing the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory on the storage medium by the OFF signal of the shutter release button.

Description

Method of controlling digital image processing apparatus and apparatus thereof

1 is a diagram illustrating a rear surface of a digital image processing apparatus in which a control method of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention is performed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the digital image processing apparatus of FIG. 1.

3 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a method of controlling a digital image processing apparatus capable of continuously capturing at least one or more still images and storing them in a storage medium according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. .

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure of pictures that are continuously taken by the control method of FIG. 3 and temporarily stored in a temporary storage memory.

Description of the Related Art

23: shutter release button, 24: mode dial,

504: DRAM, 505: EEPROM,

506: memory card interface, 507: digital signal processor,

512: microcontroller.

The present invention relates to a control method and a device of the digital image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a control method of a digital image processing apparatus having a continuous shooting function for photographing and storing a plurality of still images continuously by one shutter operation. And to the apparatus.

Typically, the digital image processing apparatus includes all devices that process images of a digital camera, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a phone camera, a PC camera, or the like, or use motion recognition sensors. The digital image processing apparatus receives a desired image through the image pickup device, displays the input image on the image display device, and displays the image on the image display device, and stores the image as an image file according to the user's selection of the image.

Continuous shooting photographs and stores a plurality of still images continuously by one shutter operation. Continuous shooting mode lets you capture the appearance of moving objects and capture changes in facial expressions. When shooting a fast moving object, single shooting may take a picture before the subject enters the angle, or a blank space may be taken after the object is taken.

In this case, the continuous shooting function may increase the probability of obtaining a good picture of the desired object. In addition, even when shooting a facial expression of a baby changing instantaneously, or if you need to study by shooting a continuous motion, such as sports, continuous shooting can be very useful.

In a digital image processing apparatus such as a conventional digital camera, a shutter includes two shutters, including a shutter 1 and a shutter 2. When one end of the shutter is pressed, a photographing algorithm is started, and when the second step of the shutter is pressed, an image displayed on the display device is stored in the reservoir.

A continuous shot function of a conventional digital camera stores a preset number of pictures in a high speed temporary storage memory, and when the preset number of pictures is stored in the temporary storage memory, it is stored in the temporary storage memory. The stored pictures are saved on the slow memory card, and continuous shooting ends. At this time, the storage time to the memory card is determined by the time when the shutter 2 is pressed.

That is, the number of pictures continuously taken in the continuous shooting mode is set, and when the shutter 2 is pressed in the continuous shooting mode, shooting is started and each picture is stored in the temporary storage memory. At this time, when the preset number of pictures is taken, the picture taking ends, and the continuous picture stored in the temporary storage memory is stored in the memory card.

However, in the manner in which the storage time is determined by the time when the shutter 2 is pressed, there is a problem in that the photographing fails when the desired time point does not occur within a desired time. In other words, when the shutter is pressed at a desired time point, it becomes difficult to shoot a desired image by the shutter rack, and when it is pressed in advance, continuous shooting ends before the desired time point as a limit of the number of continuous shooting possible, which makes it difficult to take a desired picture.

According to the present invention, when the shutter is released in the continuous shooting mode, the pictures temporarily stored in the high speed temporary storage memory are stored on a low speed memory card, thereby capturing a desired moment even in a limited temporary storage memory space. An object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a digital image processing apparatus and a device thereof.

According to the present invention, at least one still image can be continuously captured by one operation of a shutter release button and stored in a storage medium. (A) The temporary storage memory can be stored in a temporary storage memory by an ON signal of the shutter release button. Storing pictures of the still image in succession; And (b) storing the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory on the storage medium by the OFF signal of the shutter release button.

Preferably, the pictures are stored in the temporary storage memory up to a preset number in a shooting order.

After the pictures are stored in the temporary storage memory according to the shooting order up to the set number, the pictures are deleted in the first storage order among the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory, and then the pictures are stored in the temporary storage memory. It is preferably stored in order.

Preferably, the set number is a number that the temporary storage memory is full.

Preferably, the storage medium is one of a CD disk, a DVD disk, a hard disk, or a memory card.

Preferably, the temporary storage memory is SDRAM.

Step (a), (a1) determining whether the shutter release button is on (ON) state; (a2) photographing the still image to generate a photo file corresponding to the still image; And (a3) storing the photo file in the temporary storage memory.

Step (b), (b1) determining whether the current shooting mode is a continuous shooting mode; (b2) determining whether the shutter release button is in an OFF state; And (b3) storing the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory in the storage medium when the shutter release button is in an OFF state.

The shutter release button includes a shutter 1 and a shutter 2, performs a preparation operation for photographing by turning on the shutter 1, and performs step (a) by turning on the shutter 2 Preferably, step (b) is performed by turning off the shutter 2.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control apparatus of a digital image processing apparatus capable of continuously capturing at least one or more still images by a single operation of a shutter release button and storing the same in a storage medium. to provide.

According to the present invention, the pictures stored temporarily in the high-speed temporary storage memory at the moment the shutter is released in the continuous shooting mode to be stored in the low-speed memory card, so that you can capture a desired moment even with limited temporary storage memory space have.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a rear surface of a digital image processing apparatus in which a control method of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention is performed.

Referring to the drawings, the rear of the digital image processing apparatus, the direction button 21, the menu-OK button 22, the wide angle (Zoom) button (W), the telephoto (Zoom) A button T, a mode dial 24, a display panel 25, a speaker SP, and the like may be provided.

The direction button 21 may include a total of four buttons including an up button 21a, a down button 21b, a left button 21c, and a right button 21d. The direction button 21 and the menu-OK button 22 are keys for inputting various menus related to the operation of the digital image processing apparatus such as a digital camera. In addition, the direction button 21 and the menu-OK button 22 may be used to activate or select an exposure area capable of controlling exposure or to move the exposure area.

Wide angle-zoom button W or telephoto-zoom button T widens the view angle or narrows the view angle depending on the input. In particular, it can be used to change the size of the selected exposure area. At this time, when the wide-angle zoom button W is input, the size of the selected exposure area is reduced, and when the telephoto-zoom button T is input, the size of the selected exposure area may be enlarged.

The mode dial 24 is used to select and set various modes, for example, still image shooting mode, night scene shooting mode, movie shooting mode, playback mode, computer connection mode, continuous shooting mode, and system setting mode. Used for The mode instruction lamp 24L indicates the selection mode of the mode dial 24.

When shooting is performed while the mode dial 24 is set to the continuous shooting mode, continuous shooting can be performed by the control method of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

As the display panel 25, an image display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) may be used.

Meanwhile, a shutter release button 23, a flash, a power switch, and a lens unit may be provided on the front or the top of the digital image processing apparatus. In addition, the front and rear of the digital image processing apparatus may be provided with an objective lens and an eyepiece of the viewfinder.

The shutter release button 23 is opened and closed to expose an image pickup device or film such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) to light for a predetermined time. In addition, the shutter release button 23 records an image in the image pickup device by properly exposing the subject in cooperation with an aperture (not shown).

The shutter release button 23 may include two shutters including a shutter 1 and a shutter 2. In this case, the photographing preparation operation may be performed by turning on the shutter 1, and continuous shooting according to the present invention may be performed by turning the shutter 2 on and off.

When shooting in a dark place, the flash is used to instantly illuminate bright light, and flash modes include auto flash, forced flash, flash off, red-eye reduction, and slow synchro. The objective lens section of the viewfinder is a small window of the camera for viewing and composing a subject to be photographed.

As an embodiment of the digital image processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, a digital camera, a control apparatus thereof, and a control method thereof are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0130650 (titled: automatic using a quadratic function of a camera A focusing method, a focusing method, and a quadratic function in camera. The digital camera, its control device, and control method disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. application are incorporated in this specification, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the digital image processing apparatus of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, an optical system (OPS) including a lens unit and a filter unit optically processes light from a subject. The lens unit of the optical system OPS includes a zoom lens, a focus lens, and a compensation lens. When the user presses the wide-zoom button W or telephoto-zoom button T included in the user input unit INP, a corresponding signal is input to the micro controller 512. [

Accordingly, as the micro controller 512 controls the lens driving unit 510, the zoom motor M _Z is driven to move the zoom lens. That is, when the wide-angle zoom button W is depressed, the focal length of the zoom lens is shortened to enlarge the angle of view, and if the telephoto-zoom button T is depressed, the focal length of the zoom lens becomes long and the angle of view becomes narrow.

Meanwhile, in the auto focus mode, the main controller incorporated in the digital signal processor 507 controls the lens driving unit 510 through the micro controller 512 to drive the focus motor M _F. The compensation lens compensates for the overall refractive index and is not driven separately. Reference symbol M _A denotes a motor for driving an aperture (not shown).

In the filter section of the optical system (OPS), an optical low pass filter removes optical noise of a high frequency component. Infra-red cut filter blocks the infrared component of incident light.

The photoelectric conversion unit OEC may include an image pickup device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor). The photoelectric conversion unit OEC converts light from the optical system OPS into an electrical analog signal.

The analog-to-digital conversion unit may include a CDS-ADC (Correlation Double Sampler and Analog-to-Digital Converter) The analog-to-digital converter processes the analog signal from the photoelectric converter (OEC), removes the high-frequency noise, adjusts the amplitude, and converts the analog signal into a digital signal. Here, the digital signal processor 507 controls the timing circuit 502 to control the operations of the photoelectric conversion unit (OEC) and the analog-digital conversion unit 501.

The real-time clock 503 provides time information to the digital signal processor 507. The digital signal processor 507 processes digital signals from the CDS-ADC device 501 to generate digital image signals classified into luminance and chrominance signals.

A self-timer lamp, an auto-focus lamp, a mode indicating lamp, a flash standby lamp, and the like are provided in the light emitting portion (LAMP) driven by the microcontroller 512 under the control of the main controller incorporated in the digital signal processor 507 . The user input unit INP may include a shutter release button, a direction button 21, a wide-angle zoom button W, a telephoto- zoom button T, and the like.

A digital image signal from the digital signal processor 507 is temporarily stored in a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 504. The EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 505 stores algorithms and setting data such as a boot program and a key input program required for the operation of the digital signal processor 507. In the memory card interface 506, a user's memory card is detached.

The DRAM 504 may be a temporary storage memory in which photographs taken continuously are temporarily stored according to the present invention. That is, since data of pictures taken at a high speed can be stored, it is suitable for temporarily storing pictures taken continuously by the operation of a single shutter release button. In particular, SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) corresponding to synchronous dynamic memory may be used to realize higher speed.

The memory card may be a storage medium in which photographs are taken continuously and temporarily stored in the SDRAM according to the present invention. In general, it is preferable that a storage medium can maintain stored data even when power is not supplied. For example, the storage medium may be a memory card such as an SD card. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a CD disk, a DVD disk, a hard disk, or the like, which can perform a function as the storage medium, may be used as the storage medium.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 507 is input to the display panel driver 514, which causes the image to be displayed on the display panel 25.

On the other hand, the digital image signal from the digital signal processor 507 can be transmitted by serial communication through a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection 31a or RS232C interface 508 and its connection 31b, 509 and the video output unit 31c as video signals. Here, the digital signal processor 507 may incorporate a micro controller therein.

The audio processor 513 outputs the audio signal from the microphone MIC to the digital signal processor 507 or the speaker SP and outputs the audio signal from the digital signal processor 507 to the speaker SP.

According to the present invention, a control method of a digital image processing apparatus capable of continuously capturing at least one or more still images and storing them in a storage medium by operating the shutter release button illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 4 is illustrated in FIG. 2. The same may be performed inside a control device for a digital image processing apparatus. At this time, the main algorithm of the control method according to the embodiment may be performed inside the digital signal processor 507 or the microcontroller 512 with the help of peripheral components in the control device.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of a digital image processing apparatus capable of continuously storing at least one or more still images and storing them in a storage medium according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. to be. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure of pictures that are continuously taken by the control method of FIG. 3 and temporarily stored in a temporary storage memory.

Referring to the drawings, the control method (S100) of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention is capable of continuously recording at least one or more still images by one operation of the shutter release button, and storing them in a storage medium. (S106 to S108) and the storage medium storage step (S109 to S111). In the temporary memory storage steps S106 to S108, pictures of still images are continuously stored in the temporary storage memory, for example, SDRAM, by the ON signal of the shutter release button. In the storage medium storage steps S109 to S111, pictures stored in the temporary storage memory are stored in a storage medium, for example, a memory card by an OFF signal of the shutter release button.

Temporary memory storage steps S106 to S108 and storage medium storage steps S109 to S111 are performed.

In the temporary memory storing step (S106 to S108), it is determined whether the shutter release button is in an on state (S106), taking a still image to generate a photo file corresponding to the still image (S107), and an image. And storing the file in the temporary storage memory (S108).

Storage medium storage step (S109 to S111) is a step of determining whether the current shooting mode is a continuous shooting mode (S109), a step of determining whether the shutter release button is OFF (S110), and shutter release And storing the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory in the storage medium when the button is in the OFF state (S111).

In the temporary memory storage steps S106 to S108, pictures are stored in the temporary storage memory up to a preset number of settings according to the shooting order. In this case, the set number is preferably a number in which the temporary storage memory is full. That is, it is preferable that the size of the space that can be stored in the temporary storage memory is calculated, and the number calculated by dividing the size of the storage space by the size of the photo to be stored currently is the set number.

In the temporary memory storage steps S106 to S108, pictures are stored in the temporary storage memory according to the photographing order up to the set number. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the pictures taken after being stored in the temporary storage memory up to the set number are newly stored in the storage space of the temporary storage memory secured after the pictures are erased in the order of first storage among the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory. It is stored according to the shooting sequence to be taken.

That is, from the moment the shutter release button is pressed, pictures are taken and stored in the SDRAM, which is the temporary storage memory, from the pictures 1 to the 5 in the order in which the pictures were taken. First, as shown in (a) of FIG. 4, the storage space is filled up to 5, and when shooting is continuously performed in the continuous shooting mode, the pictures stored in the SDRAM are erased in the order of storing the number of pictures continuously taken. .

When shooting continues in the continuous shooting mode, pictures are deleted from picture 1 to picture 5 in the order they were stored in the SDRAM. Therefore, Photo 6, which is a photograph taken and stored in continuous shooting mode after the SDRAM is full, Photo 1 is erased and newly stored in its place (Fig. 4 (b)), and Photo 7, which is the next stored photo, is Photo 2 Is erased and newly stored in its place (Fig. 4 (c)).

At this time, the user starts shooting in the continuous shooting mode by pressing the shutter release button and continues shooting until a desired image is captured, and when the desired image is captured, releases the shutter release button. Therefore, the photographer can easily capture a desired image even under the limited temporary storage memory space. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously achieve the desired instant capturing and the saving of the storage capacity of the medium in the continuous shooting mode shooting.

On the other hand, the shutter release button (23 in Fig. 1) is provided in two stages with the shutter 1 and the shutter 2, and performs a preparation operation for shooting by the ON operation of the shutter (1). At this time, the temporary memory storage steps S106 to S108 are performed by the ON operation of the shutter 2. In addition, the storage medium storage steps S109 to S111 are performed by the OFF operation of the shutter 2.

The control method S100 of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention may be performed by a photographing algorithm according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3.

The shutter release button 23 of FIG. 1 included in the user input unit INP has a two-stage structure. That is, after the user operates the wide-zoom button W and the tele-zoom button T, the S1 signal from the shutter release button 23 is turned on by pressing the shutter release button 23 only one step. , Up to the second stage, the S2 signal from the shutter release button 23 is turned on. Therefore, the shooting algorithm starts when the user presses the shutter release button 23 to the first stage (S101). Here, the current position of the zoom lens is already set.

First, shooting information is read for setting shooting conditions (S102). Next, the remaining amount of the memory card is examined (S103), and it is checked whether or not the capacity of the digital video signal can be recorded (S104). If it is not a recordable capacity, it is indicated that the capacity of the memory card is insufficient (S112). In the case of recordable capacity, the following steps are performed.

First, the shooting information is set according to the shooting information read in the shooting information reading step S102 (S105). In this case, the setting of the photographing information may include an automatic white balance (AWB) mode, an automatic exposure (AE) mode, an automatic focusing (AF) mode, and the like.

First, an automatic white balance (AWB) mode is performed according to the photographing information read out in the photographing information reading step S102 to set relevant parameters. Next, an automatic exposure (AE) mode is performed according to the shooting information read out in the shooting information reading step S102, so that the exposure amount for incident luminance is calculated, and the aperture driving motor MA according to the calculated exposure amount. Is driven. Next, an automatic focusing (AF) mode is performed according to the shooting information read in the shooting information reading step S102 to set the current position of the focus lens.

First, it is checked whether the S2 signal is on (S106). If the S2 signal is not On, the user does not press the second stage of the shutter release button 23 to take a picture, and thus does not proceed to the next step.

If the S2 signal is on, the user presses the second stage of the shutter release button 23 for shooting, and thus the shooting operation is performed (S107). That is, the photoelectric converter OEC and the analog-digital converter 501 operate by the digital signal processor 507 controlling the operation of the timing circuit 502. At this time, the photographing operation is performed to generate a photo file corresponding to the captured still image. Photo files are created by compressing image data.

Next, the photographed and changed photo file is stored in SDRAM which is a temporary storage memory (S108). In this case, the generated photo file is stored in the memory card corresponding to the storage medium of the user from the digital signal processor 507 through the memory card interface 506.

In addition, it is determined whether the current shooting mode is the continuous shooting mode (S109). If the current shooting mode is the continuous shooting mode, the process proceeds to the next step S110. If the continuous shooting mode is not the continuous shooting mode, the picture stored in the SDRAM is stored in the memory card (S111).

Next, it is determined whether the S2 signal is in an OFF state (S110). If the S2 signal is in an OFF state, pictures taken in the continuous shooting mode and stored in the SDRAM are stored in the memory card (S111), and the process ends. If the S2 signal is not in the OFF state, shooting (S107 to S109) in the continuous shooting mode is continuously performed.

According to the control method of the digital image processing apparatus and the apparatus according to the present invention, limited temporary storage memory by allowing the pictures stored temporarily in the high-speed temporary storage memory at the moment the shutter is released in the continuous shooting mode, stored in the low-speed memory card Even in space, you can capture the moment you want to take pictures.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, You will understand. Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the present invention should be determined only by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

By operating the shutter release button once, at least one still image can be taken continuously and stored in the storage medium. (a) sequentially storing pictures of the still image in a temporary storage memory according to a photographing order by an ON signal of the shutter release button; And (b) storing pictures stored in the temporary storage memory on the storage medium by an OFF signal of the shutter release button, In the step (a), the pictures taken after storing the still image pictures in the temporary storage memory up to the number of times that the temporary storage memory becomes full are deleted from the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory in the order of first storage. And storing the data in the temporary storage memory according to the photographing order. delete delete delete The method of claim 1, And the storage medium is one of a CD disk, a DVD disk, a hard disk, or a memory card. The method of claim 1, And the temporary storage memory is SDRAM. The method of claim 1, In step (a), (a1) determining whether the shutter release button is in an on state; (a2) photographing the still image to generate a photo file corresponding to the still image; And (a3) storing the picture file in the temporary storage memory. The method of claim 1, In step (b), (b1) determining whether the current shooting mode is the continuous shooting mode; (b2) determining whether the shutter release button is in an OFF state; And (b3) storing the pictures stored in the temporary storage memory on the storage medium when the shutter release button is in an OFF state. The method of claim 1, The shutter release button includes a shutter 1 and a shutter 2, performs a preparation operation for photographing by turning on the shutter 1, and performs step (a) by turning on the shutter 2 And the step (b) is performed by turning off the shutter 2. The digital image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 or 5 to 9, wherein at least one still image is continuously photographed and stored on a storage medium by a single shutter release button. Control device of the image processing device.

Images