KR20100122364A - Apparatus for processing digital image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for processing a digital image is provided to store an input image in predetermined image size. CONSTITUTION: A digital video processing apparatus(300) includes a video input unit(310), storage units(330,340) and a control unit(320). The image input unit receives an input image, and the storage units store the input image in a predetermined image size. In order to print the image file on a screen or paper without any change in the image size file, the control unit controls the set image size.

Description

Apparatus for processing digital image}

The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a digital image processing apparatus for storing an input image input through an image pickup device as an image file having a predetermined size.

Typically, the digital image processing apparatus includes all devices that process images such as a digital camera, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a phone camera, a PC camera, or use an image recognition sensor.

The digital image processing apparatus may image an image received through an image pickup device by a digital signal processor, compress the image, generate an image file, and store the image file in a memory.

In addition, the digital image processing apparatus may display and display an image of an image file received through an imaging device or stored in a storage medium on a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD).

In general, in a digital image processing apparatus, a size of an image file to be stored may be set in advance, and an input image input through the imaging device may be converted into a size of a set file and stored.

An object of the present invention is to provide a digital image processing apparatus capable of storing an input image as an image file having a preset setting size outputted as a screen or a picture.

The present invention, the image input unit for receiving an input image; A storage unit for storing the input image as an image file having a preset size; And a control unit configured to control the set size to be set to an image size output on the screen or photo paper without resizing the image file.

The display unit may further include a display unit displaying the selectable set sizes.

The apparatus may further include a user manipulation unit configured to receive a user input for selecting one of the setting sizes displayed on the display unit.

The set size may be displayed in horizontal and vertical sizes defined in centimeters or inches.

The input unit may be displayed on the display unit to input the set size numerically.

According to the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention, by allowing the input image to be stored as an image file having a preset size outputted as a screen or a photo, user convenience for using the image file can be improved.

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

FIG. 1 is a rear view of a digital camera 100 which is an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, on the back of the digital camera 100, the direction button 21, the menu-OK button 22, the wide angle (Zoom) button (W), the telephoto (Zoom) ) Button T, the display panel 25 and the like.

The direction button 21 may include four buttons, 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 executing various menus relating to the operation of the digital image processing apparatus such as a digital camera.

The wide-angle zoom button W or the tele-zoom button T has a wider angle of view or a narrower angle of view depending on its input. In particular, it may be used to change the size of the selected exposure area. In this case, when the wide-zoom button W is input, the size of the selected exposure area increases, and when the tele-zoom button T is input, the size of the selected exposure area may decrease.

As the display panel 25, an image display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) may be used. The display panel 25 may be included in the display unit 350 of FIG. 3, in which selectable picture sizes may be displayed in a menu format.

Meanwhile, a power switch 23, a shutter release button 24, a flash (not shown), and a lens unit (not shown) may be provided on the front or top surface of the digital camera 100.

The power switch 23 and the shutter release button 24 may be included in the user manipulation unit 360 (see FIG. 3) for inputting items to be manipulated by the user from the outside.

The power switch 23 may be used to turn on or off the power for the digital camera 100 to operate. The shutter release button 24 opens and closes to expose the film or the image pickup device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) for a predetermined time. In addition, the shutter release button records an image on the image pickup device by properly exposing a subject in association with an aperture (not shown).

As an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, a digital camera, a control apparatus, and a control method thereof are disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0130650 (name: automatic using a secondary function of the camera). Method of automatically focusing using a quadratic function in camera.

Matters relating to the digital camera, the control apparatus, and the control method disclosed in the above-mentioned US application will be included in the present specification, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

2 is a block diagram of a control device 200 of a digital image processing apparatus, which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The control device 200 of the digital image processing apparatus may be mounted in the digital camera 100 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing, 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-angle zoom button W or the tele-zoom button T included in the user input unit INP, a signal corresponding thereto is input to the microcontroller 212.

Accordingly, as the microcontroller 212 controls the lens driver 210, the zoom motor M _Z is driven to move the zoom lens. That is, when the wide-zoom button W is pressed, the focal length of the zoom lens is shortened to widen the angle of view, and when the tele-zoom button T is pressed, the focal length of the zoom lens becomes long and the angle of view is narrowed.

On the other hand, in the auto focusing mode, the main controller embedded in the digital signal processor 207 controls the lens driver 210 through the microcontroller 212, and thus the focus motor M _F is driven. do. That is, the focus lens is moved to a position where the sharpest picture is obtained by driving the focus motor M _F.

The compensation lens compensates for the overall refractive index and is not driven separately. Reference numeral M _A denotes an aperture adjusting motor M _A for driving an aperture (not shown).

In the filter section of the optical system OPS, an optical low pass filter removes optical noise of high frequency components. Infra-Red cut filter cuts the infrared component of the incident light.

The photoelectric conversion unit OEC may include an imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS). The photoelectric conversion unit OEC converts light from the optical system OPS into an electrical analog signal.

The analog-to-digital converter may include a CDS-ADC (Correlation Double Sampler and Analog-to-Digital Converter) device 201. 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 207 controls the timing circuit 202 to control the operation of the photoelectric converter OEC and the analog-to-digital converter 201.

The optical system OPS, the photoelectric conversion unit OEC, the CDS-ADC element 201, and the like may be included in the image input unit 310 of FIG. 3.

The real time clock 203 provides time information to the digital signal processor 207. The digital signal processor 207 processes digital signals from the CDS-ADC element 201 to generate digital image signals classified into luminance (Y value) and chromaticity (R, G, B) signals.

The light emitting unit LAMP driven by the microcontroller 212 under the control of the main controller built in the digital signal processor 207 includes a self-timer lamp, an auto-focus lamp, a mode indicating lamp, a flash standby lamp, and the like. May be included.

The user input unit INP may include a direction button 21, a menu-OK button 22, a wide-angle zoom button W, a telephoto-zoom button T, and the like. The user input unit INP may be included in the user manipulation unit 360 of FIG. 3.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 is temporarily stored in the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 204. The EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 205 stores algorithms and setting data such as a boot program and a key input program required for the operation of the digital signal processor 207. In the memory card interface 206, a user's memory card may be attached or detached.

The digital signal processor 207 and / or the microcontroller 212 may be included in the controller 320 of FIG. 3 according to the present invention. The digital signal processor 207 and / or the microcontroller 212 may also be equipped with cache memory as temporary storage space.

In this case, the cache memory and the DRAM 204 may be included in the first storage unit 330 of FIG. 3 to temporarily store an input image displayed in a live view. The cache memory included in the first storage unit 330 of FIG. 3 may be included separately from the digital signal processor 207 and / or the micro controller 212.

The memory card recognized through the memory card interface 206 may be included in the second storage unit 340 of FIG.

The digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 is input to the display panel driver 214, whereby the image is displayed on the display panel 215.

The controller 200 of the digital image processing apparatus may further include display units 214 and 215. The display units 214 and 215 may include a display panel 215 and a display panel driver 214 for driving the display panel 215. The display units 214 and 215 may be included in the display unit 350 of FIG. 3 according to the present invention.

On the other hand, the digital image signal from the digital signal processor 207 can be transmitted by serial communication via a universal serial bus (USB) connection portion 31a or an RS232C interface 208 and the connection portion 31b thereof, and a video filter ( 209 and through the video output unit 31c. Here, the digital signal processor 207 may incorporate a microcontroller therein.

The audio processor 213 outputs the audio signal from the microphone MIC to the digital signal processor 207 or the speaker SP, and outputs the audio signal from the digital signal processor 207 to the speaker SP.

3 is a block diagram of a digital image processing apparatus 300 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The digital image processing apparatus 300 may be controlled by the control method S400 of the digital image processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the digital image processing apparatus 300 includes an image input unit 310; The control unit 320; Storage units 330 and 340; Display unit 350; And a user manipulation unit 360.

The image input unit 310 receives an input image. The storage units 330 and 340 store the input image as an image file having a preset size. The controller 320 may control the setting size to be set to an image size in which the image file is output on the screen or photo paper without size conversion.

The display unit 350 may display selectable setting sizes. In this case, the setting sizes may be displayed in the same manner as the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 to 6D. That is, the set sizes selectable on the display unit 350 may be displayed in a menu form.

In this case, the user may select a desired size among the setting sizes displayed on the display unit 350, and the input image may be stored as an image file having the selected setting size. To this end, the digital image processing apparatus 300 may receive a user input for selecting one setting size from among the setting sizes displayed on the display unit 350 through the user manipulation unit 360.

In this case, the user manipulation unit 360 may include a direction button 21 and a menu-OK button 22, and may receive a user selection by operating a menu by the direction button 21 and the menu-OK button 22. have. As another example, the display unit 350 may be provided as a touch screen, and a user selection may be input by a touch operation on a menu displayed on the display unit 350.

The set size may be expressed in horizontal and vertical sizes defined in centimeters or inches. As another embodiment, the display unit 350 may display an input unit through which the user can input a set size numerically.

4 and 5 schematically show photo size setting menus displayed on the display unit 350 of FIG. 3. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, user-selectable setting sizes displayed in the horizontal and vertical directions defined by centimeters are displayed.

The picture size setting menu that can be set includes 3 × 4 cm, 4 × 5 cm, 10 × 15 cm, 13 × 18 cm, 15 × 20 cm, 20 × 25 cm, 28 × 35 cm, 40 × 50 cm, 50 × 60 cm, and 60 × 76 cm. In this case, the user may select one of the sizes to take a picture.

In addition, the picture size setting menu that can be set includes 4 × 6 inches, 5 × 7 inches, 6 × 8 inches, 8 × 10 inches, 11 × 14 inches, 16 × 20 inches, and 20 × 24, as shown in FIG. Inches, may include 24 × 30 inches. In this case, the user may select one of the sizes to take a picture.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, user-selectable setting sizes displayed in the horizontal and vertical directions defined by inches are displayed.

In this case, the user may input a desired setting size by a menu operation through the user manipulation unit 360. In addition, the controller 320 may store the input size as a set size in the storage units 330 and 340. In this case, an input image input through the user input unit 310 may be captured and stored at a predetermined size.

As another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, an input unit for inputting a set size numerically may be displayed on the display unit 350. The controller 320 may store the size directly input by the user as a number in the storage units 330 and 340 as a set size. In this case, an input image input through the user input unit 310 may be captured and stored at a predetermined size.

When writing a document, you often edit the picture and insert the image. In this case, general users take a picture according to the number of pixels they want by using a digital camera and then transfer the picture to a personal computer (PC). In this case, typically, users may have the trouble of modifying the size of the picture to be inserted into the document work once again to fit the size desired by the user. In order to eliminate this inconvenience, the user can set the size to be taken and stored when taking a picture with a digital camera to a set size.

In this case, the input image may be stored as an image file having a preset size that is output as a screen or a picture. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to increase work efficiency and improve user convenience when working with a document using an image file.

The image input unit 310 may receive an input image from an external device through an image pickup device or may receive an input image from the storage units 330 and 340. The image input unit 310 may include an optical system (OPS), a photoelectric converter (OEC), a CDS-ADC device 201, and the like illustrated in FIG. 2.

The controller 320 may include an image input unit 310; The control unit 320; Storage units 330 and 340; Display unit 350; And controlling the user manipulation unit 360 to store the input image as an image file having a preset size that is output as a screen or a photo. The controller 320 may include the digital signal processor 207 and / or the microcontroller 212 illustrated in FIG. 2.

The storage unit 330 and 340 may store a live view input image and a captured image. The storage units 330 and 340 may include a first storage unit 330 and a second storage unit 340. In the first storage unit 330, an input image displayed in a live view may be temporarily stored. The second storage unit 340 may store the captured image in a set size.

The display unit 350 may include the display panel 25 shown in FIG. 1 and / or the display panel driver 214 and the display panel 215 of FIG. 2. The user may input a desired command from the outside through the user manipulation unit 360. The user manipulation unit 360 may include the direction button 21 of FIG. 1, the menu-OK button 22, and / or the user input unit INP of FIG. 2.

According to the present invention, by allowing the input image to be stored as an image file of a preset setting size outputted as a screen or a photo, user convenience for using the image file can be improved.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, it is merely an example, and those skilled in the art may realize various modifications and equivalent other embodiments therefrom. I can understand. Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the invention should be defined only by the appended claims.

1 is a diagram illustrating a rear surface of a digital camera as an embodiment of a digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a control apparatus that may be included in the digital camera of FIG. 1.

3 is a block diagram schematically showing a digital image processing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a photo size setting menu displayed on the display unit of FIG. 3 and defined by a size of centimeters.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a photo size setting menu displayed on the display unit of FIG. 3 and defined in inches.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a user input window that is displayed on the display unit of FIG. 3 and directly inputs a photo size numerically.

Claims (5)

An image input unit which receives an input image; A storage unit for storing the input image as an image file having a preset size; And And a control unit configured to control the set size to be set to an image size outputted on a screen or photo paper without resizing the image file. The method of claim 1, And a display unit for displaying the selectable set sizes. The method of claim 2, And a user manipulation unit configured to receive a user input for selecting one of the setting sizes displayed on the display unit. The method of claim 2, And a horizontal and vertical size in which the set size is defined in centimeters or inches. The method of claim 2, And an input unit which allows the user to input the set size numerically on the display unit.

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