JP2987447B2 - camera - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly, to the management of a photographing recording area of an image recording medium. The present invention relates to a camera which can be used by distinguishing a shooting recording area according to a position.

Note that the term frame is a word representing a unit of an image, and indicates a "one image" to be photographed or a "corresponding area of a medium on which the image is to be recorded". Therefore, one field corresponds to one frame in the field recording mode of the electronic still camera, and one frame corresponds to one frame in the frame recording mode. (Hereinafter, the case of one frame = 1 field will be considered for convenience of explanation.) ). When the recording medium is a still video floppy disk, one recording track corresponds to one frame, and when the recording medium is a solid-state digital memory, one track is allocated so as to correspond to each recorded field. Each memory area corresponds to one frame (hereinafter, the term "track" will be used as a concept including such a solid-state memory including each memory area).

Of course, in the case of photographing with a normal film camera, the "frame" (one image divided by a frame) which has been conventionally used is directly referred to.

[Prior Art] In recent years, cameras have been upgraded to a high-grade due to computerization, and have been used in various photographing methods. Various proposals have been made for more effective use of the image recording medium. For example, when it is necessary to allocate a desired photographing area (number of frames) for a specific photographing scene or for a special purpose such as preservation as a usage method of an image recording medium, a photographer can use a conventional camera to take a photograph. The photographing was continued while paying attention to the middle track number (frame number), and after confirming that the track was reached, it was used for the intended use. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-62487 discloses a technique for performing continuous shooting in a continuous shooting mode in an electronic still camera in correspondence with the number of frames to be shot (recording track).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the case where the number of frames to be shot is designated and a recording area is allocated for the specific purpose of the above-described conventional camera, as described above, the photographer must You have to pay attention to the number and you can't concentrate on shooting. In the case of continuous shooting, a specified frame (a track in an electronic still camera, a film frame in a silver halide film) passes through the continuous shooting, and a frame for a target scene becomes insufficient or disappears. May occur. In particular, in high-speed continuous shooting with an electronic still camera or the like, such a problem is highly likely to occur.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-62487 discloses a control means for prohibiting the setting of the number of frames when the number of frames to be set exceeds the number of frames that can be shot in the continuous shooting mode. With this technique, it is not possible to specify the number of frames for a specific purpose as described above.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem by designating a target shooting area (number of frames) and comparing it with the number of frames of the current shooting, thereby ensuring the position of the specified number of frames. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-use camera capable of detecting an image, and more specifically, to erase an image once recorded, such as an electronic still camera, in which management of a shooting area and a track becomes particularly complicated. Therefore, a specific solution is to be achieved even in a camera that can perform re-recording (updating of recording).

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems] A camera according to the present invention is a camera capable of updating a photographed recorded image recorded on a predetermined track on the image information recording medium by new photographing, A means for setting a first integrated recording amount which is set in accordance with a target ratio between a recorded area and an unrecorded area on a medium. Integrated recording amount setting means for performing this operation, integrated recording amount counting means for updating and counting the second integrated recording amount corresponding to the integrated value of the number of times of photographing by the sequential photographing operation in the sequential photographing operation, At a second point in time when the value represented by the second integrated recording amount in the counting means reaches the value represented by the first integrated recording amount in the integrated recording amount setting means, the sequential photographing operation is at least temporarily inhibited. And characterized by being provided with a continuous prohibiting means for performing operation to.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

First, prior to describing an embodiment of the present invention, a block diagram of a camera as a reference example including the related art of the present invention is shown in FIG. The camera is an electronic still camera having a continuous shooting mode, and includes a system controller 1 for controlling overall operation of each unit, a power supply circuit and an AF.
A control circuit 2 for (automatic focusing), AE (automatic exposure), recording, etc .; control means 16 for the number of frames, shooting time, and recording track number; and shooting trigger means linked to a shooting release button. A trigger switch 12, a mode selector 13 for selecting and specifying various modes in continuous shooting, a register input key 14 for setting a value of a position of a last track described later,
It comprises a mode selector 13, a clear key 15 for canceling a mode and a value set by the input keys 14, and the like.

The control means 16 includes a frame number register 3 for storing a designated value of the number of frames for continuous shooting, a frame number counter 4 for counting the number of frames shot, the value of the frame number register 3 and the value of the frame number counter 4 And when they match, the signal H (ON)
Means for defining the number of repetitions (number of frames) of the continuous shooting mode shooting operation comprising a frame number comparator 5 for outputting the number of frames, a time register 6 for setting the time of continuous shooting, and a timer for the continuous shooting time. A timer (time counter) 7, a time comparator 8 for outputting a signal H (ON) in accordance with the coincidence of the values of the register 6 and the counter 7, and an automatic continuation time defining means for the continuous shooting mode operation; A track register 9 for storing a last track designation value, which is a recording position setting means for setting a position; a currently-recorded track of a recording position recognizing means which is incremented with successive photographing and recognizes a second recording position; A track counter 10 indicating a number, a track comparator 11 for outputting a signal H (ON) in association with a match between the values of the track register 9 and the track counter 10 And a last track detecting means for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the system controller 1. Therefore, these means may be each corresponding function unit built in the system controller 1.

The last track, which is the first recording position, is a track area allowed for the current shooting (by single shooting or continuous shooting) when it is necessary to secure an area of a track that has not been shot for another purpose. Is the track at the final position indicating the limit.

Next, the photographing operation of this camera is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2, and each mode of the photographing operation is determined by the value of the flag shown in FIG. So, first,
The relationship between each flag value and each mode will be described.

The flag E sets a mode for designating whether the state in which the last track can be specified is always, that is, single shooting (single shot) and continuous shooting, or only continuous shooting. . When the flag E is 0, the mode in which the last track can always be designated is set. When the flag E is 1, the mode is set.
In this mode, the last track can be specified only during continuous shooting.

The flag F is a flag for setting a single shooting mode or a continuous shooting mode. A flag F of 0 specifies a single shooting mode, and a flag F of 1 specifies a continuous shooting mode.

The flag G sets the post-processing mode after detecting that the output of the track comparator 11 has become H (on state) and the shooting has reached the final track. When the flag G is 0, Cancel the previous continuous shooting mode,
If the flag G is 1, the process waits until the value of the last track is changed, and if the flag G is 2, a post-processing mode is set in which all shooting is prohibited until the value of the last track is changed.

Next, the photographing operation of this camera will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Prior to the start of the processing according to the flow of FIG. 2, the values of the flags E, F, and G that determine each shooting mode are set by the mode selector 13, and the last track number is input by the register input key 14 and the track register 9 shall be registered.

(I) Processing until the shooting track reaches the last track First, it is determined whether or not the power switch is turned off in step S101. If the power switch is not turned off, then the trigger switch 12 is pressed and the output becomes H (on). The process jumps to step S103 (step S102). Then, the shooting sequence is started, and it is checked in step S104 until the sequence is completed.
Move to As is well known, the photographing sequence is a series of sequences starting from white balance and photometry, exposing, recording, and accessing a track.

Then, in step S105, the track counter 10 is incremented by being recorded on the corresponding track, and in step S106, it is determined whether or not the output of the trigger switch 12 is H (on state). If the trigger switch 12 is off, step S1
It returns to 01 and waits for the next shooting instruction again.

On the other hand, if the trigger switch 12 is on,
Proceeding to S107, if the output of the track comparator 11 is H (ON), that is, if the shooting track has reached the designated final track, proceed to step S108. If the output is not H, ie, it has reached the designated final track. If not, the process jumps to step S114. Therefore, the flag F
Is checked, and if the value is set to 1, the continuous shooting designation mode is set, so the flow returns to step S103, and the next shooting is started. If the value is 0 and the single-shot designation mode,
The process returns to S101 and waits for a shooting instruction.

(Ii) Processing after the shooting track reaches the final track As described above, when the output of the track comparator is H in step S107, that is, each of the processes applied to the image information recording in the above-described sequential shooting operation At the second point in time when the photographing track position as the second recording position, which is the actual position on the sequential position sequence in the recording area, coincides with the last track position as the first recording position, the sequential photographing operation is performed. The process proceeds to step S108 to temporarily prohibit continuation.

In step S108, the flag E is checked, and the value is 0.
In step S113, the process jumps to step S113 in either the single shooting mode or the continuous shooting mode, and the output of the track comparator becomes H
It is checked whether the output is no longer H and the process returns to step S101. Specifically,
A photographing operation prohibiting unit that prohibits all photographing is activated until the first recording position is released, that is, until the setting of the last track position is released or changed. Then, when the setting is released or changed, the process returns to step S101, and the photographing based on the setting condition is performed again.

If the value of the flag E is 1 in step S108,
Proceeding to step S109, the flag F is further checked.
If the flag F is 0, that is, if single shooting is designated, the process returns to step S101 and waits for a shooting instruction again. In this mode (flag E = 1, flag F = 0), the mode is the single shooting mode, and the last track can be designated during continuous shooting. Therefore, the last track cannot be designated (the first track). (See FIG. 3).

Then, when the flag F is 1, that is, in the continuous shooting designation mode, the flag G is checked in steps S110 and S111.

(In the case where the flag G is 0) The processing in this case is to operate the continuous shooting mode canceling means for canceling the continuous shooting at least once from the beginning.
That is, the process jumps to step S115, sets the flag F = 0, returns to step S101, and thereafter performs single-shot shooting. In this case, since the flag E is 1, the check of the last track is not performed thereafter.

(In the case where the flag G is 1) In this case, continuous shooting from the beginning becomes impossible, and the single shooting operation permitting means is operated. That is, step S110, step S11
The process proceeds to step S112 via 1 and jumps to step S116 unless the power switch is turned off. If the power switch is off, this program ends. Then, in step S116, the output of the trigger switch 12 is checked, and if the output is H (ON), step S117 is performed.
Is started, and the end of the sequence is confirmed in step S118. When the shooting is completed, the output of the track comparator 11 is checked, and as long as the output is H, that is, unless the setting of the last track position is changed, the process returns to step S112. The photography is repeated.

When the setting of the last track position is changed and the output of the track comparator 11 is turned off, the process returns to step S101, where continuous shooting can be performed again.

(In the case where the flag G is 2) In this case, all the photographing operation prohibiting means are operated until the sequential photographing operation which has been photographed in the continuous photographing mode from the beginning until the final track position is released is changed.
That is, in step S111, there is a routine for shampooing to step S113 and stopping at this step until the output of the track comparator 11 is turned off, and rewriting the value of the track register 9, although not shown in this flowchart, Thereby, the value of the track register 9, that is, the position of the last track is rewritten so as to be changed.
Then, the output of the track comparator 11 is turned off (not H), and the process returns to step S101. Then, the continuous shooting is restarted.

Although the above description has been given of the case where the present invention is applied to an electronic still camera, it is needless to say that the present invention can be similarly applied to a normal silver halide film camera. In that case,
The track position, that is, the number is the film frame number.

Next, a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above-described reference example, recording is performed by a first recording position (designated last track position) specified as a sequential position sequence and a sequential photographing operation. The program is processed by comparing with the second recording position (the value of the track counter), but in one embodiment of the present invention, the first is set corresponding to the ratio of the recorded area to the unrecorded area. The integrated recording amount is compared with a second integrated recording amount corresponding to the integrated value of the number of times of photographing by the sequential photographing operation, and when both values match, an operation of at least once prohibiting the sequential photographing operation is executed. Things.

The configuration of this embodiment is different from that of the reference example in that the track register 9 is an integrated recording amount setting means for storing the first integrated recording amount, and the track counter 10 is an integrated recording counter for updating and counting the second integrated recording amount. It is a point to be a means. Other configurations are the same as in the above-described reference example. Further, in the program for photographing, the last track position and the track counter value in the above reference example correspond to the first integrated recording amount and the second integrated recording amount in this embodiment, respectively. Alternatively, the program flow and the like may be equivalent.

In the present embodiment, the first integrated recording amount is indicated by the ratio of the recorded area to the unrecorded area as described above, but the unrecorded area is not limited to the unphotographed area in the silver halide film. And unrecorded areas or unrecorded areas as in electronic cameras. Similarly, the recorded area may include not only a photographed area of the silver halide film but also a recorded or updated area as in an electronic camera.

Therefore, especially in the electronic camera, the unrecorded area and the updated area are treated as a photographable area or a photographed area, so that the recording medium can be used more effectively.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the camera of the present invention can be used as a means for effectively using an image information recording medium, for example, in order to secure an unused shooting recording area for another purpose. Designation is performed, and it is automatically detected that the area has been reached by sequential photographing, and the sequential photographing operation is prohibited at least once. Therefore, unlike the conventional camera, there is no need to pay attention to the number of remaining unphotographed frames during photography, and a remarkable effect is obtained, such as ensuring a desired unphotographed area. A camera can be provided.

In particular, in the case of a camera such as an electronic still camera capable of updating (re-recording) a record by erasing a once-recorded image, the above-mentioned “not-photographed area” should be secured (the camera user wants to secure). The area considered as "is not obvious, for example, all the recordable at that time (including a recorded track whose record can be updated, and thus includes, for example, a track number which is retroactive from the current recorded track). When Targeting Tracks For example, there are at least two cases in which a series of tracks from a track to a destination is targeted. Each of them has different usability, but it is extremely easy to secure an area according to the present invention. Therefore, there is a special effect that an unphotographed area is secured while using the recording medium more effectively. To have.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a camera showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a photographing operation of the camera of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between each flag set value and each mode applied in the photographing operation of the camera shown in FIG. 2; 9 Track register (recording position setting means and cumulative recording amount setting means) 10 Track track counter (recording position setting means and cumulative recording amount counting means)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G03B 17/00 G03B 17/36 H04N 5/225-5/247

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A camera capable of updating a photographed recorded image recorded on a predetermined track on the image information recording medium by a new photographing, comprising a target recorded area on the image information recording medium and an unrecorded area. Integrated recording amount setting means for setting a first integrated recording amount that is set in accordance with the ratio to the area, and performing setting in consideration of updating of the recording when setting the first integrated recording amount; The second corresponding to the integrated value of the number of times of shooting by the shooting operation of
An integrated recording amount counting means for updating and counting the integrated recording amount in the sequential photographing operation; and a value representing the second integrated recording amount in the integrated recording amount counting means, wherein the first integrated value in the integrated recording amount setting means is used. A camera comprising: a continuation prohibition unit that executes an operation for at least temporarily prohibiting a sequential photographing operation at a second time point when a value indicating a recording amount is reached.