JP3530802B2 - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electronic camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional technique, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-18 is available.
Some printers, such as 9785, print while visually observing a subject image.

[0003]

However, such a conventional electronic camera has a problem that internal information such as the life of a battery mounted inside the electronic camera cannot be easily grasped.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera which can easily grasp internal information inside the electronic camera without a display device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the object of the present onset Ming electronic camera,
Image data of the subject image obtained via the imaging lens
An image storage means for storing in silicon preparative, an electronic camera comprising a printing unit, a printing a printing image based on the image data to the print target, the printing unit, the printing
Outside the print image within the object, possess internal information printing means for printing shown to information displayed image of one or more internal information of the electronic camera, the internal information is attached to the printed image
Ancillary information that indicates ancillary information in the electronic camera
The information display image of the accompanying information is
With the downstream side in the feed direction of the printing object as the front,
The print start position, which is the front edge position of the printed image, and the
Prior to the printing of the print image, between the print operation start position and
The information display image of the abnormal information printed in close proximity
Is the mark that is the trailing edge position of the print image already printed in the front.
The printing end position and the printing operation when printing the next print image
It is printed independently of the print image between the print start position and
Characterized in that it is.

[0006] In this electronic camera, stored in silicon preparative image data of a subject image obtained through the imaging lens,
While printing the print image based on the image data to the print object, to the outside of the print image within the printing object, since one or more internal information of the electronic camera can be printed indicates to information displayed image, the display device Even without it, the internal information inside the electronic camera can be easily grasped. Also, in this case, internal information
Is the accompanying information attached to the print image (the number of printed images
Information that indicates) and abnormality information that indicates an abnormality inside the electronic camera
(Such as battery exhaustion or print head temperature abnormality)
Rarely, these are features outside the printed image in the print object.
Information (display image)
Easy to find (image) (easy to see). In addition, with a predetermined position
Specifically, the accompanying information (the information display image of the
The front edge position (print start position) of the image and the print movement in front of it
Is printed close to the print image (between the print start position)
By cutting out the accompanying information together with the print image,
It becomes easy to store (save, manage) print images, and
It will be printed prior to printing the print image, so it will be printed from now on.
Accompanying information of the printed image to be printed (attribute information such as the number of images)
Can be grasped at an early stage of printing (early). Also, different
Ordinary information (information display image of), (already printed in front
The print end position, which is the trailing edge position of the print image, and the next print image
Print image between the print operation start position when printing
Since it is printed independently of, the part of the printed image is cut out.
It is easy to separate it from the abnormal information when it occurs.

In the electronic camera described above , the difference
It is preferable that the regular information includes information indicating exhaustion or life of the battery mounted inside.

In this electronic camera, the difference in internal information
The normal information, because it contains information that indicates the exhaustion or life of the battery mounted therein, the information can be printed indicates to information displayed image, thereby easily grasp the consumption or service life of the battery.

Further, in each electronic camera described above, the abnormality information is preferably includes information indicating temperature abnormality of the printing head which the printing means has.

In this electronic camera, the difference in internal information
The normal information, because it contains information that indicates the temperature anomaly of the print head by the print unit has, that information can be printed indicates to information displayed image, thereby, the temperature of the print head, such as abnormal heat abnormally easily I can figure it out.

Further, in each of the electronic cameras described above , it is preferable that the accompanying information includes information indicating the number of printed images of the print image.

[0012] In this electronic camera, with one of the internal information
The Sui information, because it contains information that indicates the number of printed image of the printed image, the information can be printed indicates to information displayed image, grasp Thus, the printed image including an easily several sheets printed it can.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A print camera to which an electronic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a product appearance of the print camera of this embodiment. Reference numeral 1 is a power switch, which is turned on by sliding it in the ON direction. Reference numeral 2 is a shutter button, and when pressed, a subject image is captured from the imaging lens 9. Reference numeral 3 denotes a print button which, when pressed, prints out the subject image captured on the thermal paper 10 by the built-in thermal printer. Buttons 4-8
Is for performing various image processing on the captured subject image. 12 is a printer pig, 12 '
The thermal paper 10 in a roll shape can be converted by opening as described above. 11 is a paper cutter, which is a thermal paper 10.
Can be cut out. 14 is a battery pig,
Eight AA batteries can be replaced by removing in the direction of '.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal structure of the print camera. Reference numeral 21 is an image pickup lens composed of three pieces, and forms an image on the MOS type area sensor 22. An analog signal processing circuit 23 converts signals of all pixels of the area sensor 22 into a video signal 24. 25
Is a diaphragm control circuit, which controls the iris 26 so as to obtain an appropriate diaphragm by the video signal 24. An A / D conversion circuit 27 converts the video signal 24 into a 4-bit digital signal. The above circuit is the analog block 36 that processes an analog signal.

28 is an S-RAM, which is 244 × 244.
It has a capacity of 256 Kbits, which can store data for the entire screen of the area sensor 22 consisting of pixels. 29 is C
It is a PU and RA according to the program built in the ROM 30.
The data of M28 is output to the thermal printer 31. Three
2 is a switch board composed of buttons 1-8,
A signal for selecting an image processing program stored in the ROM 30 and the like is output to the CPU 29. Reference numeral 33 is a control circuit of the system, which extracts the data of each pixel from the area sensor 22 by the output of the read timing signal 38 and performs A / D conversion to digital data, and outputs the read timing signal 39 to convert the digital data to the RAM 28.
To memorize. The above circuit is the digital block 37 which processes a digital signal.

Reference numeral 34 is a power supply circuit, and eight dry batteries 35
12V generated from the voltage is reduced to 9V for driving the analog block 36, 5V for driving the digital block 37,
6V for driving the thermal printer 31 and 3V for holding the memory of the RAM 28 are generated.

Next, the function of each block from shooting to printing will be described along with the shooting operation. When the power switch 1 is slid in the ON direction, the power circuit 34 starts operating and generates voltages of 9V and 5V. As a result, the analog block 36 and the digital block 37 start operating. 244 × 2 area sensor 22 in 1/60 seconds
The pixel data of 44 is sequentially read and converted into the video signal 24 by the analog signal processing circuit. Further A / D
The conversion circuit 27 converts the digital data into 4-bit digital data. Further, the aperture control circuit controls the aperture of the iris 26 so that the average value of the video signal 24 is always in a constant level range. These series of operations are repeated at a 1/60 second cycle until one of the following is performed. 1. The power switch 1 is slid in the OFF direction to stop the operation of the power circuit 34. 2. Approximately 2 minutes after the final operation or operation, the CPU 29 operates the auto power-off function for stopping the operation of the power supply circuit 34. 3. During operation of the thermal printer 31, the 9V voltage is turned off.

When the shutter button 2 is pressed, digital data corresponding to the entire screen of the area sensor 22 is stored in the RAM 28.
Is taken into. Subsequently, the contents of the RAM 28 are printed out as a monitor image. Print button 3
When is pressed, about 6 V is generated, which is finely adjusted according to the head resistance of the thermal printer 31. Subsequently, the contents of the RAM 28 are sent to the thermal printer 31 and printed out according to the image processing program contained in the ROM 30.

When the printout is completed, the printer voltage 6V becomes 0V. The thermal printer 31 outputs to the CPU 29 three kinds of printer status signals 40, that is, a paper out detection signal, a printer lid open signal, and an overheat signal. When the thermal paper runs out, when the printer pig is open, the thermal head is turned on. When the temperature rises above 57 ° C, printout is stopped. The power supply circuit 34 always generates the memory backup voltage 3V of the RAM 28 even when the power switch 1 is OFF. Battery 3
Even if 5 is removed, the memory backup capacitor 41 can charge the memory for several tens of minutes by the charge.

When the button 4 is pressed, a backlight correction signal is output to the diaphragm control circuit 25, and the diaphragm of the iris 26 is made larger than usual. As a result, when the shutter button 2 is pressed while pressing the button 4, the backlight-corrected subject image is displayed in the RAM 28.
Is taken into. By inputting the voltage generated by changing the volume 42 to the CPU 29, it is possible to select the pulse width output to the thermal printer 31 and adjust the shade of the printout screen. A buzzer 43 generates a warning sound when the button operator or the printer status signal 40 is generated.

When the shutter button 2 is pressed while pressing the button 8, the digital image data is taken into the RAM 28 after about 10 seconds.

Next, the image processing program and the button operating method stored in the ROM 30 will be described in detail. With the print camera of the present invention, two types of gradation expression can be selected.

FIG. 3 shows the area gradation method which is the first gradation expression. When the print button 3 is pressed, the data in the RAM 28 is printed out by the area gradation method. The density 1 is composed of 3 unprinted dots 51 and 1 dot 52 for one-time energization, and represents the whitest pixel. The density 2 is composed of 2 dots without printing and 2 dots with one-time energization. For density 4, one-time conduction dot is composed of 4 dots. For density 5, the one-time energization dot is 3 dots and the two-time energization dot 53 is one dot. The density 9 is composed of 3 dots for the two-time conduction dot and one dot for the three-time conduction dot 54. Similarly, in density 16, the four-time conduction dot 55 is composed of four dots, and represents the darkest pixel. The one-time energization dot is colored with an energy of about 1/4 of the printing energy for saturated coloring, and is black with about 1/4 of the saturated coloring. The twice-energized dots are formed by overlapping the once-energized dots twice, the three-time energized dots are overlapped three times, and the four-time energized dots are overlapped four times. The area gradation expression has an advantage that the printout time is short because the number of times of energizing the dots is small.

FIG. 4 shows a cumulative gradation method which is a second gradation expression. When the print button 3 is pressed after pressing the button 7, the data in the ROM 28 is printed out by the cumulative gradation method. Density 1 is composed of one-time energization dots 61, and has a blackness which is about 1/16 of saturated color development. Density 2 is composed of two-time energizing dots 62, which is a double overlap of one-time energizing dots. Similarly, the density 16 is composed of 16 times energized dots 63, 16 times of one-time energized dots are overlapped, and saturated color is formed. Although the cumulative gradation method has a slow printout time, fine printout is possible.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a printout of the print camera of the present invention. This machine has three printout screen sizes. The full screen 71 is composed of 448 × 570 dots and has a size of 56 mm × 76 mm.
Reference numeral 72 denotes an external contour line, which is composed of a 1-dot line and is represented by a cumulative gradation and an intermediate gradation of density 8. A mini screen 73 is printed by pressing the print button 3 while pressing the button 8 and then pressing the print button 3.

The mini screen 73 is 1 / of the area of the full screen 71.
4 and is composed of 224 × 285 dots and has a size of 2
It is 8 mm × 38 mm. Reference numeral 74 denotes an external contour line, which is configured similarly to the external contour line of the full screen 71. 75
Is a monitor screen, which is printed out by pressing the shutter button 2.

The monitor screen 75 is composed of 112 × 143 dots and has a size of 14 mm × 19 mm. Also, the dots of density 1 and density 2 of the cumulative gradation are density 2 and density 3
And dots having a density of 4 are printed out with a density of 4 and in the same manner with 8 gradations as a whole. Reference numeral 76 denotes an external contour line, which is configured similarly to the external contour line 72 of the full screen 71.

Reference numeral 77 is a grid dot, which is composed of one dot and is expressed as an intermediate gradation with a density of cumulative gradation of 8. The pitch of the grid dots 77 is 4 mm in both the vertical and horizontal directions. The arrow 78 indicates the feed direction of the thermal paper. 79-a, 79
Reference numerals -b and 79-c are printer operation start positions. 80-
Reference characters a, 80-b, and 80-c are printout start positions of the subject image. 81-a, 81-b, and 81-c are printout end positions of the subject image. 82-a, 8
2-b and 82-c show an automatic feed section. Reference numeral 83 indicates a paper feed section when the button 5 is continuously pressed.

Reference numeral 84 denotes a cumulative gradation comment, which indicates that the printout screen is represented by the cumulative gradation. Not displayed in area gradation. Numerals 85 and 86 are comments of the number of printout screens, which become consecutive numbers every time printout is performed. This function is set when the power switch 1 is turned on while pressing the button 7, and the numbers 1 to 99 are printed. If the power switch 1 is turned on while pressing the button 7, this function is canceled and the comment for the number of printout screens is not printed.

Reference numeral 87 denotes a mini screen comment, which indicates that the printout is a mini screen size. Reference numeral 88 is a battery life display, which indicates that the battery is almost exhausted. Further, when the battery runs out and the print quality of the printout screen becomes a level that cannot be guaranteed, two battery life indicators 88 are printed.

A heating warning comment 70 is printed when the head temperature of the thermal printer becomes too high.
Subsequent printouts are prohibited until the head temperature decreases. Reference numeral 90 is an image processing comment, and there are eight types of image processing comments.

Table 1 describes the relationship between each image processing comment, its contents, and the operation of the designated button.

[0034]

[Table 1]

After the image processing program in the ROM 30 is selected by the button operation shown in Table 1, the gradation method and the screen size are selected and the print button 3 is pressed, the image processed RAM 28 data is displayed together with the image processing comment 90. Printed out.

When the in-print-out button 6 is pressed, the print-out is stopped and automatic feeding is performed, and then the printer is stopped. If the button 6 is pressed at any time other than printout, the previously set image processing designation contents are canceled.

A buzzer sound is generated when the button is operated, but it can be muted by turning on the power switch 1 while pressing the button 6. When the power switch 1 is turned on while pressing the button 6 in the mute state, the buzzer sound can be generated again.

As described above, in the print camera of this embodiment, the monitor screen (first print image) of the subject image is printed out quickly when the shutter button 2 is pressed (in response to the image capture instruction). No display device is required. For this reason, the structure of the print camera is simplified, and the cost and size can be reduced. Also, select the image processing program, select the gradation method and screen size, and press the print button 3 at any time.
By pressing (in accordance with the image print instruction), the image-processed image (second print image) can be printed. Further, by printing an image (internal information display image) indicating internal information such as a battery life display indicating that the internal battery is almost exhausted, the internal information of the print camera can be easily grasped without a display device.

[0039]

As described above, according to the electronic camera of the present invention, the internal information inside the electronic camera can be easily grasped without the display device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a product external view of a print camera to which an electronic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

2 is a block diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of the print camera of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an area gradation method that is a first gradation expression.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a cumulative gradation method that is a second gradation expression.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printout.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 power switch 2 Shutter button 3 Print button 4-8 ... Button 71 full screen 73 Mini screen 75 monitor screen

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-1-125181 (JP, A) JP-A-1-309473 (JP, A) JP-A-61-189785 (JP, A) JP-A-1- 146780 (JP, A) JP-A-1-157877 (JP, A) Actually developed 62-129537 (JP, U) Actually developed 60-191356 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/76-5/956 H04N 5/225

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] An image storage means for storing according to claim 1 In Reconfiguration preparative image data of a subject image obtained through the imaging lens, provided with a printing unit to print the print image based on the image data to the print object An electronic camera, wherein the printing unit is configured to print outside the print image inside the print object.
On the side, and accompanying information possess internal information printing means for printing shown to information displayed image of one or more internal information of the electronic camera, the internal information is associated with the print image
The information display image of the incidental information includes abnormality information indicating an abnormality in the electronic camera, and
With the downstream side in the card direction as the front, the front end position of the printed image
Printing start position and the printing operation start position in front of it
Between the printer and the printer before printing the printed image.
Is printed, the information display image of the abnormality information has already been printed on the front
The print end position, which is the trailing edge position of the print image, and the next print image
Between the printing operation start position when printing
An electronic camera characterized by being printed independently of the printed image . 2. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality information includes information indicating exhaustion or life of a battery installed inside. 3. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality information includes information indicating a temperature abnormality of a print head included in the printing unit. 4. The accompanying information includes information indicating the number of printed images of the print image.
The electronic camera according to claim 1.