KR20070120284A - Methog for generating animation gif file of digital photographing device - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for generating an animation GIF(Graphics Interchange Format) file of a digital image capturing device is provided to shorten a processing time required for generating an animation GIF file. An image for generating an animation GIF file is captured and stored in a temporary memory. The captured image is GIF-encoded in the temporary memory. It is checked whether a currently recorded GIF file exists in a user memory. If a current recorded GIF file does not exist in the user memory, a new GIF file starting with a header block is generated. If a currently recorded GIF file exists in the user memory, the image which has been encoded in the GIF file format is attached to the GIF file of the user memory and recorded. It is checked whether a command for terminating the image capturing for generating the GIF file is inputted. When the command for terminating the image capturing is inputted, a trailer block is recorded in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of the animation GIF file.

Description

Method for generating animation GIF file of digital photographing device

1 is a flowchart illustrating a signal processing method for generating a conventional animated GIF file.

FIG. 2 illustrates a process of generating an animated GIF file of the conventional digital photographing apparatus disclosed in FIG. 1 based on a process performed in an internal memory and an external memory.

3 is a structural diagram of an animated GIF file format.

4 illustrates a process of generating an animated GIF file of the conventional digital photographing apparatus disclosed in FIG. 1 in terms of space utilization of an internal memory and an external memory.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital camera as an example of a digital photographing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

6 is a view showing an example of the front of an actual digital camera as an example of a digital photographing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

7 is a view showing an example of the back of an actual digital camera as an example of a digital photographing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

8 illustrates an image processing method of the digital photographing apparatus of the present invention for generating an animated GIF file.

9 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing method of a digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a flowchart for explaining an image processing method of a digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing method of a digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

12 is a view for explaining the effect of the image processing method of the digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file of the present invention.

The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus such as a digital camera, and more particularly, to an image capturing apparatus capable of generating an animated GIF (Graphics interchange Format) file using a photographed image.

Animated GIF (GIF89A) is an image file format that lists a plurality of GIF images and shows them as if watching a video.

1 discloses a signal processing method for a conventional animated GIF file that generates an animated GIF file in a digital photographing apparatus.

First, in step S1, it is determined whether the shutter is depressed. When it is determined that the shutter is depressed, the process proceeds to step S2, where image data for one sheet from the memory control block 3 is once written to the DRAM 5a.

Then, when writing to the DRAM 5a is completed, the still image data of the once inserted DRAM 5a is read, and data compression is performed as a preprocess for converting to the GIF format. That is, the color reduction process is performed on the still image data (step S3). That is, data of a predetermined gradation is converted into data of, for example, 256 colors (or 16 colors) or less. When the color reduction process in step S3 is completed, data compression by the LZW method is performed in step S4. The data amount of the whole still image data is greatly reduced by the process of the said step S3 and the step S4, and it becomes a predetermined amount of data. When the data compression process in steps S5a and 5b is completed, it is determined in step S5 whether or not the GIF file being created in the memory (DRAM 5b) exists. If it is determined that the GIF file being created in the DRAM 5b does not exist, the flow advances to step S6, where various information is added to the image data in a form satisfying the structure of the GIF file, and a new file is created.

The GIF file has a format consisting of a header block, a logical picture description block, a global color table block, an animation extension block, a graphic control extension block, a block of image data, and a trailer block. When creating an animation file, corresponding to the number of series of images, the graphic control extension block and the block of image data are repeated, and the trailer block is added last. This creates an animation file.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S5 that the GIF file being created in the DRAM 5b exists, the process proceeds to step S7 to form a GIF file, and the GIF file is added after the existing GIF. Specifically, as described above, a graphic control extension block and a block of image data are added. As described above, the discretely inserted still picture data are concatenated in chronological order and converted into an animation file that can be displayed in association on the time axis.

When the process of creating a new file in step S6 is completed or the process of adding a file in step S7 is completed, in step S8, the file that has been subjected to the process is stored in the internal memory (DRAM 5b). Are preserved in)). Then, the process proceeds to step S9 and the operation input unit 7 is operated to give an instruction to end the animation mode, or the capacity of the size of the GIF file (animation file) can be recorded in the external storage medium 8. A determination is made as to whether or not it is a range limit.

In step S9, when no instruction is given to end the animation mode, and it is determined that the size of the GIF file is not a range limit of the capacity that can be recorded on the external storage medium 8, step S1. The process returns to, again, and waits until the shutter is pressed next. Then, the next time the shutter is pressed, an instruction is given to terminate the animation mode by the above-described processing from step S1 to step (except step S6; S9), or the size of the GIF file is set to an external storage medium ( It is repeated until the range limit of the capacity that can be recorded in 8) is reached.

In step S9, when it is determined that an instruction to end the animation mode has been made or when it is determined that the size of the GIF file is a range limit of the capacity that can be recorded on the external storage medium 8, the step ( The flow advances to S10), and a GIF file is output to the external storage medium 8 and stored.

When the saving process to the external storage medium 8 is completed, erasing of the GIF file stored in the DRAM 5b is further performed. As described above, the animation file data is recorded in the external storage medium 8, thereby ending the series of animation GIF processing.

FIG. 2 illustrates a process of generating an animated GIF file of the conventional digital photographing apparatus disclosed in FIG. 1 based on a process performed in an internal memory and an external memory.

Animated GIF (GIF89A) is an image file format that lists a plurality of GIF images and shows them as if watching a video (see FIG. 3).

Referring to FIG. 3, an animated GIF file includes GIF header blocks (GIF header, global screen descriptor, and global color table) and includes information about the entire GIF, and several images (GIF images) between the trailer (Trailer code 0x38). It has a structure that can contain even data 1 to n).

However, in order to generate an animated GIF in a digital camera according to the conventional methods of FIGS. 1 and 2, it is necessary to store the captured image in a memory. In this case, according to the conventional animated GIF file generating method, the capacity of the internal memory (DRAM) is increased. This limits the number of frames of an animated GIF that can be created.

That is, according to the conventional animated GIF file generation method of FIG. 2, when a user captures an image, a GIF file is generated, the GIF image is encoded, added to the GIF file by GIF encoding, and all are temporarily stored in the internal memory. After all the images to be inserted into the GIF file are generated as GIF files, they are finally transferred to an external storage medium (SD / CF card, etc.) and recorded. Therefore, when the internal memory is full, you can no longer create animated GIF files. That is, the number of images that can be added to the animated GIF file is determined according to the capacity of the internal memory (DRAM).

4 illustrates a process of generating an animated GIF file of the conventional digital photographing apparatus disclosed in FIG. 1 in terms of space utilization of an internal memory and an external memory.

For example, in a digital camera equipped with 32 MByte internal memory and a 1 GB memory card (external memory), 300 KBytes of space are required for one GIF image, and up to 106 images are assumed to use all of the internal memory to generate an animated GIF. Only GIF images can be included in an animated GIF file. At this time, even though the external memory is 1GB, there is a huge amount of free space, but when the internal memory is full, it is impossible to add more GIF images.

Furthermore, in general, the internal memory (DRAM) of the digital photographing apparatus is used not only for the buffer allocated to generate an animated GIF file but also for system firmware (firmware). The number of images is further limited.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to generate an animated GIF file of a digital photographing apparatus capable of generating an animated GIF file and storing it in a user memory (memory card, etc.) even if there is a minimum amount of space in a temporary memory (internal memory, DRAM). To provide a method.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of generating an animated GIF file of a digital photographing apparatus, by encoding a plurality of photographed images in a temporary memory of a digital photographing apparatus to generate an animated GIF file in a user memory. Each image is immediately GIF encoded in the temporary memory and immediately added to the animated GIF file in the user memory, and the GIF image already recorded in the user memory is not stored in the temporary memory.

The method for generating an animated GIF file includes: (a1) photographing an image for generating an animated GIF file and storing the image in a temporary memory; (a2) GIF encoding the photographed image in the temporary memory; (a3) determining whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in user memory; (a4) if a GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory, generating a new GIF file starting with a header block; (a5) if the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after the step (a4), adding the image encoded in the GIF file format to the GIF file in the user memory; (a6) determining whether a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, and if a command for terminating image capturing for a GIF file is not input, proceeding to step (a1); And (a7) when a command to end image capturing for generating a GIF file is input, recording a trailer block in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of an animated GIF file. It is done.

In addition, the method of generating an animated GIF file, (b1) taking an image for generating an animated GIF file and storing it in a temporary memory; (b2) determining whether a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, and if a command for terminating image capturing for a GIF file is not input, proceeding to step (b1); (b3) if a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is not input, encoding the captured image in a temporary memory; (b4) after step (b3), determining whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory; (b5) if a GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory, generating a new GIF file starting with a header block; (b6) if the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after the step (b5), adding the image encoded in the GIF file format to the GIF file in the user memory; (b7) if a command for terminating image capturing for generating a GIF file is input as a result of the determination of step (b2), GIF encoding the photographed image in a temporary memory; (b8) after the step (b7), adding the GIF encoded image to the GIF file of the external memory; And (b9) recording the trailer block in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of the animated GIF file.

In addition, the method of generating an animated GIF file, (c1) taking an image for generating an animated GIF file and storing it in a temporary memory; (c2) GIF encoding the photographed image in the temporary memory; (c3) determining whether a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, and if a command for terminating image capturing for a GIF file is not input, proceeding to step (c1); (c4) determining whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory when a command for terminating image capture for generating a GIF file is not input; (c5) generating a new GIF file starting with the header block if the GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory; (c6) if the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after the step (c5), adding the image encoded in the GIF file format to the GIF file in the user memory; (c7) when a command for terminating image capturing for generating a GIF file is input as a result of the determination of the step (c3), recording the GIF-encoded image in addition to the GIF file in the user memory; And (c8) recording the trailer block in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of the animated GIF file.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote components that perform the same function.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital camera as an example of a digital photographing apparatus to which 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.

In the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 4, the digital video signal from the digital signal processor 7 is temporarily stored. 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. FIG.

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

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.

The digital camera to which the present invention can be applied does not have to include all of the components of FIG. 5, and those skilled in the art can delete some of the components, add another component, or add some components according to the specifications of the digital photographing apparatus. It will be appreciated that the components may be modified.

6 is a view showing an example of the front of an actual digital camera as an example of a digital photographing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

In front of the digital camera of FIG. 6, a shutter button 104, a jog dial 117, a mode dial 103, a power switch 126, a speaker 124, an AF (auto-focus) auxiliary light 125, and a microphone 123 are provided. ), A remote control receiver 122, a lens 121, lens barrels 120-1 and 120-2, a view finder 119, a flash 118, and the like.

7 is a view showing an example of the back of an actual digital camera as an example of a digital photographing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

At the rear of the digital camera of FIG. 7, the viewfinder 100, the auto focus lamp 101, the flash status lamp 102, the mode dial 103, the shutter button 104, the LCD button 105, and the wide-angle zoom button (106), telephoto zoom button 107, grip portion 108, five function button 109, DC power input terminal 110, external output terminal 111, playback mode button 112, LCD monitor 113 , Manual focus button 114, autoexposure lock button 115, photographing quality adjustment button 116 is provided.

The LCD monitor 113 displays an OSD indicating the current shooting mode and status of the digital camera.

The five-function button 106 has a menu entry / OK button and up, down, left, and right buttons at the center. When the menu is displayed on the monitor, the up, down, left, and right directional buttons can function as special function buttons instead of directional movement.

The various function buttons shown in FIG. 7 may be provided to perform two or more complex functions in addition to the functions shown in the names.

8 illustrates an image processing method of a digital photographing apparatus of the present invention for generating an animated GIF file.

The term “temporary memory” to be used hereinafter is a memory for storing temporary data generated in an image processing process of a digital photographing apparatus, and may be provided as an internal memory in a digital photographing apparatus such as DRAM 4 of FIG. 5.

In addition, the term “user memory” as used below is a storage device for storing captured images and generated animated GIF files. An external memory card (SD / CF card) or an internal flash memory inserted into the memory card interface 6 of FIG. Or the like.

When the user shoots an image to create an animated GIF file, the temporary memory (internal memory) encodes the captured images sequentially and immediately transfers them to the user memory (external memory) to record them, thereby creating one GIF image in the internal memory. You can create an animated GIF file that contains multiple GIF images (GIF frames 1, 2, 3, ...), as long as you have enough space. At this time, the maximum size of the animated GIF file that can be created is as large as the free space of the external memory. When the user issues a command to terminate the GIF generation, the trailer of the GIF file is recorded in the external memory to terminate the GIF file generation.

9 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing method of a digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

First, an image for generating an animated GIF file is photographed and stored in a temporary memory (S100).

GIF encoding is performed on the image photographed in the temporary memory (S102).

In the embodiment of FIG. 9, if the area of the temporary memory necessary to temporarily store the image photographed in step S100 and the area of the temporary memory necessary to GIF-encode the image photographed in step S102 exist, at least one portion exists. do.

It is then determined whether the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory (S104).

If the GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory, a new GIF file starting with the header block is generated (S106). Here, the header block includes a GIF header, a global screen descriptor, and a global color table which store the entire information of the GIF file as described in FIG. 3.

If the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after step S104, an image encoded in the GIF file format in the temporary memory is added to the GIF file in the user memory and recorded (S108).

In operation S110, it is determined whether a command for ending image capturing for generating a GIF file is input. If it is determined that a command for ending image capturing for generating a GIF file is not input, the process proceeds to step S100 to continue capturing an image for generating an animated GIF file. In step S110, the end command indicates that the user presses the OK button on the menu button (109 in FIG. 7) during the generation of the animated GIF file, or the number of images to be included in the animated GIF file is set by menu setting in advance, and the image shooting is completed. It can be designed to occur by the achievement of conditions such as.

When a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, a trailer block is recorded in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of the animated GIF file (S112).

10 is a flowchart for explaining an image processing method of a digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

First, an image for generating an animated GIF file is photographed and stored in a temporary memory (S200).

In operation S202, it is determined whether a command for ending image capturing for generating a GIF file is input. If a command for terminating the image capturing for generating the GIF file is not input, the process proceeds to step S200 to continue capturing the image for generating the animated GIF file. In step S202, the end command indicates that the user presses the OK button on the menu button (109 in FIG. 7) during the generation of the animated GIF file, or the number of images to be included in the animated GIF file is set in advance by menu setting, and the image shooting is completed. It can be designed to occur by the achievement of conditions such as.

If a command for terminating the image capturing for generating the GIF file is not input, GIF encoding of the image captured in the temporary memory is performed (S204).

After step S204, it is determined whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory (S206). If the GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory, a new GIF file starting with the header block is generated (S208). When the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after step S208, an image encoded in the GIF file format is added to the GIF file in the user memory and recorded (S210).

Steps S204 to S210 are repeatedly performed on the captured image unless an end command is input in step S202.

Insertion of step S202 after step S200 is different from the embodiment of FIG. 8. In other words, unless an end command is input in step S202, steps S204, S206, S208, and S210 are repeatedly performed to record a GIF image by appending it to an animated GIF file in user memory. ) Is finally added to the animated GIF file in the user memory (S214), and the trailer block is recorded in the GIF file in the user memory (S216).

11 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing method of a digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

First, an image for generating an animated GIF file is photographed and stored in a temporary memory (S300).

GIF encoding is performed on the photographed image in the temporary memory (S302).

In operation S302, it is determined whether a command for ending image capturing for generating a GIF file is input. If a command for terminating the image capturing for generating the GIF file is not input, the process proceeds to step S300 to continue capturing the image for generating the animated GIF file. In step S302, the end command is performed by the user pressing the OK button on the menu button (109 in FIG. 7) during the generation of the animated GIF file, or by specifying the number of images to be included in the animated GIF file in advance by setting the menu, and the image shooting is completed. It can be designed to occur by the achievement of conditions such as.

If a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is not input, it is determined whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory (S306). If the GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory, a new GIF file starting with the header block is generated (S308). If the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after step S306, an image encoded in the GIF file format is added to the GIF file in the user memory and recorded (S310).

On the other hand, when the determination result of step S304, when a command to end the image capture for generating the GIF file is input, the GIF-encoded image is added to the GIF file in the user memory and recorded (S312). The trailer block is recorded in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate the generation of the animated GIF file (S314).

12 is a view for explaining the effect of the image processing method of the digital photographing apparatus for generating an animated GIF file of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 12, the present invention may generate an animated GIF file using only a buffer for storing one GIF image, and generate an animated GIF file until the external memory is full.

The conventional method of FIG. 4 is a method of storing all the GIF images to be included in the animated GIF file in temporary memory (internal memory) and finally moving them to user memory (external memory) and storing them. Solves the problem of memory size).

For example, in a digital camera equipped with an internal memory of 32 MBytes and equipped with a 1 GB memory card (external memory), assuming that 300 KBytes of space is required for one GIF image, the conventional method (FIG. 4) shows the maximum amount of animated GIF files. Although it may include 106 images, the scheme of the present invention (FIG. 12) may include up to 3333 images (1GBytes = 3333 × 300 KBytes).

The above embodiments have been described with reference to a digital camera as an example of a digital image processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, but are not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be applied to a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), or the like as a digital photographing apparatus having an image capturing function and an animated GIF conversion function.

The best embodiments have been disclosed in the drawings and specification above. Although specific terms have been used herein, they are used only for the purpose of describing the present invention and are not used to limit the scope of the present invention as defined in the meaning or 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, the image processing method for generating an animated GIF file of the digital photographing apparatus of the present invention has the following effects.

First, even if only minimal space exists in the temporary memory (DRAM), an animated GIF file can be created and stored in the user memory (memory card, etc.). At this time, the maximum size of the animated GIF file that can be generated is theoretically equal to the amount of free space in the user memory. Although it is not easy to increase the capacity of the temporary memory (internal memory) due to the characteristics of the digital photographing apparatus, the present invention considers that user memory such as external memory (SD / CF card, etc.) tends to have a larger capacity and a lower price than the internal memory. Is very efficient in terms of memory utilization when creating animated GIF files.

Secondly, the processing time for the user to experience an animated GIF file is shortened. The conventional scheme finally stores all GIF encoded images as GIF files in user memory, but in the present invention, the user only recognizes that the processing speed is very fast since only the trailer is added to the GIF files.

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 (4)

In order to GIF-encode a plurality of shot images in the temporary memory of the digital photographing apparatus to generate an animated GIF file in the user memory, each recorded image is immediately GIF-encoded in the temporary memory and immediately added to the animated GIF file in the user memory. GIF images already recorded in the user memory is not stored in the temporary memory method of generating an animated GIF file of the digital photographing apparatus. The method of claim 1, (a1) taking an image for generating an animated GIF file and storing it in a temporary memory; (a2) GIF encoding the photographed image in the temporary memory; (a3) determining whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in user memory; (a4) if a GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory, generating a new GIF file starting with a header block; (a5) if the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after the step (a4), adding the image encoded in the GIF file format to the GIF file in the user memory; (a6) determining whether a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, and if a command for terminating image capturing for a GIF file is not input, proceeding to step (a1); And (a7) if a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, recording a trailer block in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of the animated GIF file. How to create an animated GIF file of a digital shooting device. The method of claim 1, (b1) taking an image for generating an animated GIF file and storing it in a temporary memory; (b2) determining whether a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, and if a command for terminating image capturing for a GIF file is not input, proceeding to step (b1); (b3) if a command for ending image capturing for generating a GIF file is not input, encoding the captured image in the temporary memory; (b4) after step (b3), determining whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory; (b5) if a GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory, generating a new GIF file starting with a header block; (b6) if the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after the step (b5), adding the image encoded in the GIF file format to the GIF file in the user memory; (b7) GIF determination of the photographed image in the temporary memory when a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input as a result of the determination of step (b2); (b8) after the step (b7), adding the GIF encoded image to the GIF file in the user memory; And and (b9) recording a trailer block in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of the animated GIF file. The method of claim 1, (c1) taking an image for generating an animated GIF file and storing it in a temporary memory; (c2) GIF encoding the photographed image in the temporary memory; (c3) determining whether a command to end capturing an image for generating a GIF file is input, and if a command for terminating image capturing for a GIF file is not input, proceeding to step (c1); (c4) determining whether a GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory when a command for terminating image capture for generating a GIF file is not input; (c5) generating a new GIF file starting with the header block if the GIF file currently being recorded does not exist in the user memory; (c6) if the GIF file currently being recorded exists in the user memory or after the step (c5), adding the image encoded in the GIF file format to the GIF file in the user memory; (c7) when a command for terminating image capturing for generating a GIF file is input as a result of the determination of the step (c3), recording the GIF-encoded image in addition to the GIF file in the user memory; And and (c8) recording the trailer block in the GIF file of the user memory to terminate generation of the animated GIF file.

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