KR20060082999A - Digital image processing device set having the loss-proof function - Google Patents

Abstract

The image processing apparatus set of the present invention includes an image processing apparatus main body having a frequency oscillation unit; And an alarm device unit having a frequency signal magnitude recognition unit for receiving the frequency signal transmitted from the frequency oscillator and recognizing the magnitude thereof, and a situation display unit for informing the recognized situation.

According to the present invention, when the main body of an image processing apparatus such as a digital camera and a peripheral device such as a remote controller are separated by an allowable distance or more, the user may be prevented from losing by alerting the user.

Description

Digital image processing device set having the loss-proof function}

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an exemplary digital camera to which the concept of the present invention can be applied.

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

3 is a block diagram of a loss prevention alarm device provided in the image processing apparatus set of the present invention.

4 is an explanatory view of the loss prevention operation using the digital camera set of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart for explaining the loss prevention operation of the digital camera set of the present invention.

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a digital camera, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus set having a loss prevention function.

In the related art, only an interest in technology improvement in terms of image quality and operation of a digital camera has been concerned, but no attention is paid to performance enhancement in other aspects.

Therefore, at present, there is no problem that the loss prevention device is installed in the digital camera set.

An object of the present invention is to provide a set of image processing apparatus having a loss prevention function.

The image processing apparatus set according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem is the image processing apparatus main body having a frequency oscillator; And an alarm device unit having a frequency signal magnitude recognition unit for receiving the frequency signal transmitted from the frequency oscillator and recognizing the magnitude thereof, and a situation display unit for informing the recognized situation.

The frequency signal magnitude recognizer may include a receiver configured to receive a signal transmitted from the frequency oscillator; And a comparator for comparing the magnitude of the received signal with a reference level and outputting a recognized situation as an alarm trigger signal.

The situation display unit may indicate the recognized situation as an alarm sound.

In addition, the situation display unit may represent the recognized situation as a vibration.

The alarm device may further include an alarm function operation switch for turning on and off the alarm function.

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

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an exemplary digital camera to which the concept of the present invention can be applied.

The optical system OPS including the lens unit and the filter unit optically processes light from a subject. The lens unit in the optical system OPS includes a zoom lens, a focus lens, and a compensation lens.

A photoelectric conversion unit (OEC) of a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) converts light from an optical system (OPS) into an electrical analog signal. Here, the digital signal processor 7 controls the timing circuit 2 to control the operation of the photoelectric converter OEC and the analog-to-digital converter 1. The CDS-ADC (Correlation Double Sampler and Analog-to-Digital Converter) element 1 as an analog-to-digital converter processes the analog signal from the photoelectric converter (OEC), removes the high frequency noise, and adjusts the amplitude. After that, it is converted into a digital signal. The digital signal processor 7 processes the digital signal from the CDS-ADC element 1 to generate a digital video signal classified into luminance and chroma signals.

The DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 4 temporarily stores digital video signals and other temporary processing data from the digital signal processor 7.

The EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) 5 stores algorithms and setting data necessary for the operation of the digital signal processor 7. The memory card of the user is attached to and detached from the memory card interface 6.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 7 is input to the LCD driver 14, whereby the image is displayed on the color LCD panel 17.

On the other hand, the digital video signal from the digital signal processor 7 can be transmitted by serial communication via the USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection 18 or the RS232C interface 8 and its connection 19, and the video filter ( 9) and through the video output unit 20 can be transmitted as a video signal.

The audio processor 13 outputs the audio signal from the microphone MIC to the digital signal processor 7 or the speaker SP, and outputs the audio signal from the digital signal processor 7 to the speaker SP.

The user input unit INP may include a shutter button, a mode selection button, a function selection button, a zoom button, a direction movement button, and the like. The user input unit INP is operated by the user to generate a command for performing each function according to the user's instruction. In the present invention, the mode selection button can toggle between the shooting mode and the playback mode, and allows the file deletion operation in the playback mode to be reflected on the memory card after the time of changing to the shooting mode.

The microcontroller 12 controls the lens driver 10, whereby the zoom motor M _Z , the focus motor M _F , and the aperture motor M _A are zoom lenses in the optical system OPS, The focus lens and the aperture are driven respectively. The light emitting unit LAMP driven by the microcontroller 12 may include a self-timer lamp, an auto-focus lamp, a flash standby lamp, and the like. On the other hand, the microcontroller 12 drives the flash 15 by controlling the operation of the flash controller 11 in accordance with the signal from the flash-light amount sensor 16.

As an example of an image processing apparatus to which the present invention may be applied, the digital camera body 208 does not have to include all of the components of FIG. 1, and those skilled in the art may delete some of the components according to the specification, It will be appreciated that components may be added or some components may be modified.

2 is a block diagram of a digital camera set according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and includes a digital camera main body 208 and a remote controller 200 which performs a function of an alarm device.

Referring to FIG. 2, the remote controller 200 includes an alarm function operation switch 202, a frequency signal magnitude recognizing unit 204, a situation display unit 206, and the digital camera body 208 includes a frequency oscillation unit 210. do.

The digital camera body 208 has an internal oscillation element capable of oscillating an RF (Radio Frequency), and a circuit and an alarm device capable of recognizing the magnitude of a specific frequency signal in the remote control 200 provided when the camera is purchased. do.

The remote controller 200 detects the frequency signal transmitted from the digital camera body 208 as being carried by the user, and informs the situation when the digital camera body 208 is far away and the frequency signal becomes small.

The alarm function operation switch 202 may turn off the alarm function when the alarm function is not used, such as when photographing or storing using a digital camera, and the user may use the alarm function by turning on the alarm function operation switch 202 only when necessary.

The reason for turning on and off the alarm function by the alarm function operation switch 202 is to prevent alarm generation during shooting using the digital camera body 208 and to prevent battery consumption of both devices when the alarm device is not used.

The frequency signal magnitude recognizing unit 204 senses a frequency signal transmitted from the digital camera body 208 and outputs an alarm trigger signal when the magnitude of the frequency signal is smaller than the set reference signal.

As the distance between the digital camera main body 208 and the remote controller 200 increases, the magnitude of the frequency signal received from the remote controller 200 becomes weaker, so that an alarm is generated from the remote controller if it does not reach a certain signal size. do.

The situation display unit 206 performs an alarm operation by sound or vibration when an alarm trigger signal is generated.

The frequency oscillator 210 may generate a frequency of a commercially available radio frequency band. The frequency oscillator 210 may be designed to allow a predetermined number of frequency modulations, and may be set to a specific frequency for each digital camera set so that each remote controller may recognize a frequency of its digital camera.

3 is a block diagram of a loss prevention alarm device provided in the image processing apparatus set of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the frequency magnitude recognition unit 204 includes a receiver 300 and a comparator 302.

The receiver 300 receives only a signal of a predetermined frequency sent from the frequency oscillator 210.

The comparison unit 302 compares the set reference level with the magnitude of the frequency signal sent from the receiver 300 and sends an alarm trigger signal to perform an alarm operation when the received frequency signal is smaller than the set reference level.

The situation display unit 206 receives the alarm trigger signal sent from the comparator 302 and performs an alarm operation with a warning sound or vibration when the received frequency signal is smaller than the set reference level.

In addition, the status display unit 206 may be provided with a beeper (beeper) for generating a warning sound, or may include a vibration motor (vibration motor) for generating a vibration.

The frequency oscillator 210 generates a frequency using a commercially available radio frequency band for transmitting a specific frequency signal to the receiver 300 of the remote controller.

4 is an explanatory view of the loss prevention operation using the digital camera set of the present invention.

As can be seen in Figure 4, there is case 1 and case 2. Case 1 represents a case in which the user has the remote controller 200 and the digital camera body 208 is located within the allowable distance. When the remote controller 200 and the digital camera body 208 are within the allowable distance, the frequency signal generated from the digital camera body 208 is received by the receiver 300 of the remote controller 200 shown in FIG. 3.

The comparator 302 compares the strength of the received frequency signal according to the strength of the set reference frequency signal.

In this way, when the strength of the received frequency signal is greater than the set reference frequency signal, the situation display unit 206 does not perform any operation.

However, case 2 represents a case where the digital camera body 208 is located out of the allowable distance from the remote controller 200. When the digital camera body 208 is outside the allowable distance from the remote controller 200, the frequency signal generated from the digital camera body 208 is received by the receiver 300 of the remote controller 200 shown in FIG. 3.

 The comparator 302 compares the strength of the set reference frequency signal with the strength of the received frequency signal.

 When the intensity of the received frequency signal is less than the set reference frequency signal, the situation display unit 206 notifies the user that the digital camera body 208 has exceeded the allowable distance by sound or vibration.

5 is a flowchart for explaining the loss prevention operation of the digital camera set of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, first, the anti-lost mode is activated in the digital camera (S100). When the loss prevention mode is set as described above, the comparison unit 302 of FIG. 3 determines the distance between the digital camera and the remote controller as the strength of the frequency signal (S102). Then, it is determined whether the digital camera and the remote controller are separated from each other by the allowable distance (S104). When the two devices fall more than the allowable distance, the remote control detects the received small frequency signal (S106). The small frequency signal received in this way detects the alarm through the status display unit of the remote control (S108).

When the two devices are within the allowable distance, the remote controller detects a large frequency signal (S110). The situation display unit does not generate an alarm (S112).

In the above description, the alarm device having the signal magnitude recognizing unit 204 and the status display unit 206 has been described with reference to the embodiment provided with the remote controller, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The aforementioned alarm device may be mounted on a lens cap of a 35mm film camera or a single lens reflex (SLR) camera, a camera case, or the like as a remotely accessible accessory separated from the main body of the image processing apparatus.

The above embodiments have been described with reference to a digital camera as an example of an image processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be applied to any image processing apparatus having not only a digital camera and a film camera but also an accessory which is carried separately from the main body and to which the above-described alarm unit is mounted. The main body of the image processing apparatus includes a frequency oscillation unit, and an accessory such as a remote controller can be equipped with an alarm unit capable of RF communication with the main body to prevent loss of the main body of the image processing apparatus.

The best embodiments have been disclosed in the drawings and specification above. The specific terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing the present invention only and is not intended to be limiting of meaning or the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible from this. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the main body of an image processing apparatus such as a digital camera and a peripheral device such as a remote controller are separated by an allowable distance or more, the user may be prevented from losing by alerting the user.

The invention is not limited to the examples described above and represented in the drawings. Those skilled in the art taught by the above-described embodiments, many modifications to the above-described embodiments are possible by substitution, erasure, merging, etc. within the scope and object of the present invention described in the following claims.

Claims (5)

An image processing apparatus main body having a frequency oscillator; And And an alarm device unit having a frequency signal magnitude recognition unit for receiving the frequency signal transmitted from the frequency oscillator and recognizing the magnitude, and a situation display unit for informing the recognized situation. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency signal magnitude recognizer A receiver which receives a signal transmitted from the frequency oscillator; And And a comparator for comparing the magnitude of the received signal with a reference level and outputting a recognized situation as an alarm trigger signal. The method of claim 1, And the situation display unit displays the recognized situation as an alarm sound. The method of claim 1, And the situation display unit displays the recognized situation as vibration. According to claim 1, wherein the alarm unit And an alarm function operation switch for turning on and off the alarm function.

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