JP2869424B2 - Digital electronic still camera - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a digital device configured to digitally process a video signal obtained by imaging with an image sensor and electronically record and reproduce a still image. More particularly, the present invention relates to a digital electronic still camera configured to be able to store and reproduce character data in addition to the image data serving as the still image.

[Related Art] In a conventional electronic still camera, a video signal obtained by an image sensor is subjected to analog signal processing. That is, CC
After adjusting the gamma correction and white balance of the video signal read from the image sensor such as D, and generating a luminance signal and a color difference signal by a matrix circuit, the luminance signal and the color difference signal are filtered by a low-pass filter of a predetermined band. Only the necessary frequency components are obtained, FM-modulated and recorded on a magnetic recording medium.

However, in such a conventional electronic still camera, the process from imaging to recording is performed by analog signal processing, and there is a limit to the improvement in image quality due to variations in characteristics of a matrix circuit and a low-pass filter. .

On the other hand, in recent years, digital electronic still cameras have been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and are gradually becoming popular.

The digital electronic still camera is an optical system for forming an image of a subject, and the subject is photoelectrically converted to obtain an analog video signal.
An image sensor such as a CCD, an A / D converter for converting the video signal into a digital signal, a luminance / color difference separation circuit for forming a luminance signal and a color difference signal from the digital signal, and a memory means for storing the luminance and color difference signals And so on.

Then, at the time of imaging, the digitized luminance signal and color difference signal are stored in the memory means, for example, a solid-state memory, and at the time of reproduction, the stored luminance signal and color difference signal are read out and reproduced, and are displayed on a display or printed. is there.

According to the digital electronic still camera, since a video signal is digitized, stored and reproduced, a clear image with excellent image quality can be obtained.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, as a memory means used in the digital electronic still camera, a so-called solid-state memory such as a static RAM and a battery are mounted on a small or thin printed wiring board or a plastic card. There is an IC card, and a small or thin memory device having a data recording / reproducing function called a memory card.

The memory means having the above-described configuration is detachably mounted on the camera body as a memory cartridge.However, in a solid-state memory or a memory card, an area for storing a memory type, a battery expiration date, and the like in addition to a storage area for image data is provided. Some are formed.

However, there is no device configured to store character data such as a description of image data.
And could not be played.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a photo book or the like, memos are written on items attached to photographs at times. However, such memos are stored in a memory means at the same time as shooting or when an image is edited, and reproduced. It would be very useful if you could.

On the other hand, word processors (word processors) and personal computers (PCs) are now widely used not only in offices but also in ordinary households. Have. Therefore, it is configured to input character data with the help of a word processor or personal computer other than when shooting.
In addition, by configuring so that characters are reproduced together with an image, the digital electronic still camera can be multifunctional.

In this case, the digital electronic still camera can be regarded as an image data input device when viewed from a word processor or a personal computer, and the word processor or personal computer can be regarded as a character data input device when viewed from the digital electronic still camera. Accordingly, each device can be used for multiple purposes with each other, and can be used for multiple purposes.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to form an area for storing image data and an area for storing character data in a memory unit for storing image data, so that a photograph and character information can be obtained. Is to provide a digital electronic still camera capable of integrally storing and reproducing the same.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a memory means connected to a digital electronic still camera for storing image data, wherein character data is stored in an area other than an area for continuously storing only the image data in frame units. A means for forming an area for continuous storage and controlling storage and reading of image data and character data is provided.

[Operation] In the present invention having such a configuration, the control means is driven by operating, for example, data input means provided in the digital electronic still camera, and the image data and the character data are stored in the memory means. The digital electronic still camera can be displayed and printed after being reproduced, and the digital electronic still camera can be multifunctional and versatile.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an example of an electrical configuration of the digital electronic still camera 10 and the memory cartridge 1, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory map of a storage area in a memory card (memory cartridge). is there.

Photographing in the digital electronic still camera 10, transfer of various data to the memory cartridge 1, and other processes are controlled by the system controller 20.

It comprises a system controller 20, a CPU, a ROM storing an execution program thereof, a RAM for storing necessary data, and the like.

The subject image is formed on an image sensor 12 via an optical system 11, and an analog video signal is output from the color image sensor 12. It goes without saying that the light receiving surface of the color image sensor 12 is provided with a color filter having a mosaic arrangement or a stripe arrangement of red (R), blue (B), green (G) and complementary colors thereof. No.

The video signal is then subjected to necessary signal processing such as amplification, exposure adjustment, color adjustment and the like in a signal processing circuit 13 and then converted into a digital signal in an A / TD conversion circuit 14.

The signal processing circuit 15 generates image data such as a color difference signal and a luminance signal from the digital signal, and the image data is supplied to the interface 16.

The data input device 17 selectively drives the system controller 20 and inputs various data to be written into the image memory 2 constituting the memory cartridge 1.

In the present embodiment, the input data includes the expiration date of the battery 8 of the memory cartridge 1 and is input when the battery 8 is first installed or replaced. Further, the type of the memory, the storage capacity, and the like can be input, and character data can also be input.

The various types of input data are converted into codes representing the data in the data generation circuit 18 and supplied to the next interface circuit 16.

The interface circuit 16 is a system controller 20
And supplies the designated one of the image data, the input data, the data output from the system controller 20 and the like to the memory cartridge 1 and the data read from the memory cartridge 1 by the system.・ Transfer to the controller 20.

The memory cartridge 1 is composed of an image memory 2, an interface 7, a battery 8, and the like. , A display operation switch or the like may be provided. If the image memory 2 is non-volatile, power supply from the battery 8 to the memory 2 becomes unnecessary, and the battery 8 can be a solar cell. Although the memory cartridge 1 shows the bus of the memory cartridge 1, the data bus and the address bus are actually used.
A bus and a control bus are configured.

The image memory 2 includes one or a plurality of semiconductor memory chips. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a memory information storage area 2a, an image data storage area 2b, and a character data storage area 2c are provided. Is formed. In the storage area 2a, the type of memory 2 (e.g., S-RAM, D-RAM, ROM, etc.), capacity (expressed by the number of bytes or the number of frames of an image),
Data such as the expiration date of the battery 8 is stored.

The image data storage area 2b has, for example,
The image data is divided so that only the image data for a frame or the like is continuously stored and obtained in frame units, and the luminance signal and the color difference signal are sequentially stored under the control of the system controller 20.

Further, in the character data storage area 2c, character data generated by the operation of the data input device 17 is continuously stored, but in addition to the character data supplied at the time of shooting, via the terminal 30 It is configured to be able to store character data supplied from a word processor or a personal computer (neither is shown).

The character data supplied from the terminal 30 may be transmitted to the system controller 20, but may be transmitted to the data generation circuit 18. In any case, the character data generated from the system controller 20 and the character data generated from the data generation circuit 18 are supplied to the memory 2 via the interface 16, the connector 9 and the interface 7, and are stored in the character data storage area.
It is stored sequentially and continuously in 2c.

On the other hand, at the time of reproduction, image data is read from the image data storage area 2b via the interfaces 7 and 16 by the operation of the system controller 20, and character data is read from the character data storage area 2c.

Then, the read image data and character data are supplied from the system controller 20 to the external playback device via the terminal 30, and are displayed or printed. At this time, characters are displayed at predetermined positions of the image, and a photo with a description or a memo is obtained.

The read image data and character data are supplied to a word processor or a personal computer by the operation of the system controller 20, and can be displayed on respective displays.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above, and various modifications can be made.

For example, a fixed character data area is assigned to each image data, and each address can be fixed or variable. When changing the address, the start address may be recorded in the memory information area. Further, the length of the character data storage area can be changed. In this case, the start address and the size need to be recorded in the memory information area.

Further, it goes without saying that the subject of the digital electronic still camera having the above-described configuration is not limited to a person or a landscape, but may be various documents, design drawings, or the like. The character data may be a description of various documents or a description of a design drawing.

Since such image data and character data are digitized and stored and can be input to a word processor or a personal computer, an electronic still camera comes to have a side as a data input device. It is known that it takes time and effort to input images for word processors and personal computers. It becomes very easy to input data, its description, and the entire catalog.

On the other hand, since word processors and personal computers are often used as data communication devices, it is easy to transfer the input image data and character data to other devices as described above. Since image data and character data are digitized, data does not fluctuate during communication.

Therefore, the digital electronic still camera shown in the present embodiment is capable of storing character data, so that its use and use range are greatly expanded, and exceed the range of a mere camera.

In this embodiment, the signal processing circuit 15 for forming a luminance signal and a color difference signal is provided with a signal processing circuit 15 for generating these signals in accordance with the number of pixels of the color image sensor 12 and the type of a color filter applied thereto. Although the band limitation is appropriately set or the method of forming these signals is appropriately selected, the present invention can be applied to all types of signal processing circuits.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the digital electronic still camera of the present invention, a character data storage area other than the image data storage area is formed in the memory means for storing image data, and the character data is stored together with the image data. Can be read out and played back, such as display and printing. Therefore, the image data and the character data can be integrated, and the digital electronic still camera is multifunctional and the added value is improved. Further, according to the digital electronic still camera of the present invention, since the image data and the character data corresponding to the image data are sequentially and sequentially stored, when searching for the image data or the character data, the image data storage area or Only by recognizing the first address of the character data storage area, the image data or the character data can be continuously searched thereafter. Therefore, there is an effect that the search processing can be performed quickly and easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a digital electronic still camera showing one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a memory card diagram showing a storage area for image data and character data. 1 in the figure; memory cartridge 2; image memory 2b; image data storage area 2c; character data storage area 7, 16; interface 8; battery 9; connector 11; optical system 12; image sensor 13, 15; signal Processing circuit 14; A / D converter 17; Data input device 18; Data generation circuit 20; System controller

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 5/91 G06F 15/62 330D

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A solid-state imaging device, an A / D converter that converts a video signal read from the solid-state imaging device into a digital signal, and a digital electronic device that stores an image signal in a solid-state memory based on the digital signal In the still camera, a continuous image data storage area in which only a plurality of frames of image data can be sequentially stored in frame units in the solid-state memory, and character data are sequentially stored outside the image data storage area so as to correspond to each image data. An electronic still camera characterized in that a continuous character data storage area is formed.