JP4839239B2 - Imaging device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention includes a transmitting and receiving data about the imaging equipment available.

  In order to enable communication between devices without using a communication line in addition to data communication using a communication line in a terminal device such as a mobile phone or a digital camera, short-range wireless communication such as infrared communication is possible. An increasing number of devices are equipped with a communication function. For such short-range wireless communication, various systems can be used depending on the directivity, reach distance, and the like. All of these have the advantage that the configuration of the communication unit can be made relatively simple and can be used without much consideration for security because of its strong directivity and short reach. However, due to the directivity, there is a demerit that accurate communication is difficult unless the devices are accurately opposed to each other.

  For example, when sending and receiving images between camera-equipped mobile phones using infrared communication, both the sender device and the receiving device must be in infrared communication mode, and then the sender can send images. When an operation is performed, communication is established and an image is transmitted. After the image transmission is completed, a notification indicating that the image transmission was successful is sent from the receiving device to the transmitting device. The sender confirms this notification and confirms that the image transmission was successful. I can know.

  In such image communication, since the directivity of infrared rays is narrow, it is necessary to correctly face the infrared communication unit of the device until image transmission is completed. In addition, if infrared light is emitted for a long time or the receiving circuit is in an operating state, energy consumption increases accordingly. Furthermore, if the communication is not successful, it is necessary to repeat from the alignment of the equipment. In this case, the energy consumption is further increased and the operation is very troublesome.

There is one proposed in Patent Document 1 regarding the alignment of a terminal device having such a short-range wireless communication function. The proposal of Patent Document 1 is a proposal related to reading of a wireless tag in a mobile phone, and a direction having strong directivity is displayed on a display unit of the mobile phone using a distance between the wireless tag and the mobile phone as a parameter.
JP 2006-309665 A

  Here, the alignment in Patent Document 1 is to read a fixed wireless tag, and does not relate to devices that transmit and receive signals to each other as described above. Can not.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation. In a communication system in which devices transmit and receive signals, an imaging device capable of transmitting and receiving data with a simple operation while using a signal with narrow directivity. It is intended to provide a device.

In order to achieve the above object, an imaging apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention captures an image of a subject in response to an operation means for instructing to start shooting and an instruction to start shooting by the operation means. An imaging unit for acquiring an image, a receiving unit for receiving data from an external device, and an instruction to start shooting by the operation unit , and the external device is arranged at a position where the receiving unit can receive the data. A determination means for determining whether or not the external device is instructed to start photographing by the operation means, and the determination means determines that the external device is arranged at a position where the data can be received. to,; and a reception control means for starting the reception of the data by said receiving means, said determining means, the subject in the image acquired by the imaging means, the predetermined distance If the transmission of the data to the an external device and the image of the external device that is present is detected, and wherein the determining and the external apparatus is arranged to receive a position capable of the data To do.

In order to achieve the above object, an imaging apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention captures an image of a subject in response to an operation means for performing an instruction to start shooting, and an instruction to start shooting by the operation means. An imaging unit for acquiring an image, a receiving unit for receiving data from an external device, and an instruction to start shooting by the operation unit, and the external device is arranged at a position where the receiving unit can receive the data. A determination means for determining whether or not the external device is instructed to start photographing by the operation means, and the determination means determines that the external device is arranged at a position where the data can be received. Receiving control means for starting reception of the data by the receiving means, and the determining means is a periodic signal receiver for receiving a signal of a predetermined period from the external device. Hints, if successfully received a signal of a predetermined period from the external device, and wherein the determining and the receivable position the data the external device is arranged.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide in a communication system between devices to send and receive signals, the imaging equipment that can transmit and receive data with a simple operation while utilizing a narrow signal directivity.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera 100 as an example of an imaging apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. A digital camera 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a microprocessing unit (MPU) 101, an operation unit 102, a photographing lens 103, an autofocus (AF) circuit 104, an aperture mechanism 105, an aperture control circuit 106, and an image sensor. 107, an analog front end (AFE) circuit 108, an image processing circuit 109, a display control circuit 110, a display panel 111, a shape detection circuit 112, a distance detection circuit 113, a compression unit 114, and a recording control circuit. 115, a recording medium 116, an infrared communication unit 117, and an auxiliary light emitting circuit 118. The digital camera 100 can communicate with an external device (digital camera in the figure) 300 by short-range wireless communication, for example, infrared communication. In the following description, infrared communication is described as an example of short-range wireless communication, but the technique of the present embodiment is not necessarily applied only to infrared communication.

  Hereinafter, in order to simplify the description, only the configuration of the digital camera 100 will be described assuming that the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 have the same configuration.

  The MPU 101 sequentially controls each block constituting the digital camera 100 according to the operation of the operation unit 102 from the user. The operation unit 102 includes a release switch 102a for causing the digital camera 100 to perform shooting, a changeover switch 102b for switching the operation mode of the digital camera 100 between a shooting mode, a playback mode, and the like.

  The MPU 101 also has a timer for measuring the time when the user took a picture. Thereby, the photographing time is associated with the image data obtained by photographing.

  The taking lens 103 forms an image from the subject 200 on the image sensor 107. The photographing lens 103 includes a lens for autofocus (focusing). During autofocus, the MPU 101 controls the AF circuit 104 while switching the lens position of the focusing lens while monitoring the lens position of the focusing lens, and performs focusing of the photographing lens 103. The diaphragm mechanism 105 is a mechanism that is provided in or near the photographing lens 103 and produces the effects of a shutter and a diaphragm. The aperture mechanism 105 is opened to a predetermined aperture by the aperture control circuit 106 at the start of shooting and closed at the end of shooting. By changing the aperture of the aperture mechanism 105 at the time of shooting, the depth of field of the shooting lens 103 changes. Thereby, it is possible to switch the expression such as adjusting the degree of blurring of the background subject to make the main subject appear at the time of shooting, or depict the background subject firmly.

  The image sensor 107 has a light receiving surface configured by arranging a large number of pixels, and converts an image from the subject 200 received through the photographing lens 103 into an electrical signal. In the present embodiment, the image sensor 107 may use either a CCD system or a CMOS system.

  The AFE circuit 108 includes a CDS circuit, a gain adjustment circuit, an AD conversion circuit, and the like, and is obtained by performing analog processing such as correlated double sampling processing and gain adjustment processing on the analog electric signal obtained in the image sensor 107. The obtained image signal is converted into digital data and input to the image processing circuit 109. The AFE circuit 108 is also provided with a function of reading signals from a plurality of pixels constituting the image sensor 107 at a time. For example, the SFE can be improved by collectively reading out signals of 4 pixels (2 × 2 pixels) and 9 pixels (3 × 3 pixels) by the AFE circuit 108 and adding the read electrical signals. . By such processing, the apparent sensitivity of the image sensor 107 can be increased.

  Further, the AFE circuit 108 also has a function of selecting an output signal from the image sensor 107, and can extract only signals from a limited range of pixels among all effective pixels of the image sensor 107. In general, the image sensor 107 can read signals at high speed by performing thinning. Using this function, if an image obtained for composition confirmation by the image sensor 107 is read at high speed and processed by the image processing circuit 109 and then displayed on the display panel 111, the user is displayed on the display panel 111. You can determine the shooting timing and photo opportunity while viewing the image.

  The image processing circuit 109 corrects the color, gradation, sharpness, etc. in the image data input from the AFE circuit 108, or amplifies the level of the image data to a predetermined level to adjust it to the correct shading and the correct gray level. Various image processing is performed.

  Further, in order to display various images such as the framing image as described above, the image processing circuit 109 resizes (reduces) the image data input from the AFE circuit 108 so that the image data can be displayed on the display panel 111. It also has a function to

  The display control circuit 110 converts the image data obtained by the image processing circuit 109 and the image data recorded on the recording medium 116 into a video signal and displays the video signal on the display panel 111. The display panel 111 is a display panel such as a liquid crystal display panel or an organic EL display panel provided on the back surface of the digital camera 100, for example. The display control circuit 110 also has a multi-screen display function for displaying a plurality of images superimposed on the display panel 111. With this multi-screen display function, it is also possible to superimpose a character display of mode setting and various warning displays on the captured image or the captured image.

  The shape detection circuit 112 detects contour information in the image data obtained by the image processing circuit 109.

  The distance detection circuit 113 detects the contrast of the image obtained by the image processing circuit 109. The contrast detected by the distance detection circuit 113 is used during autofocus. That is, while the AF circuit 104 changes the lens position of the focusing lens of the photographing lens 103, the distance detection circuit 113 sequentially detects the contrast of the image, and stops the focusing lens at the lens position where the detected contrast is maximized. By doing so, the photographing lens 103 can be focused. It is also possible to detect the distance of the main subject, the distance of the background subject, and the like based on the information on the lens position at the time of focusing. When the photographing lens 103 includes a zoom lens, the distance is detected in consideration of the lens position of the zoom lens.

  The compression unit 114 compresses the image data processed by the image processing circuit 109 at the time of shooting. The compression unit 114 includes a still image compression unit 114a having a known still image compression function such as JPEG, MPEG4, H.264, and the like. And a moving image compression unit 114b having a known moving image compression function such as H.264.

  The recording control circuit 115 records the image data compressed by the compression unit 114 on the recording medium 116 with accompanying data. The accompanying data includes shooting time, exposure control parameters, and the like.

  The infrared communication unit 117 transmits various data such as image data recorded on the recording medium 116 to the digital camera 300 by infrared communication, and receives data such as image data from the digital camera 300. Here, the light projecting unit and the light receiving unit of the infrared communication unit 117 are arranged, for example, in front of the digital camera 100 as shown in FIG. Here, the light projecting unit 117a and the light receiving unit 117b are covered with a visible light cut filter (not shown), and are not easily affected by ambient light from the surroundings.

  The auxiliary light emitting circuit 118 irradiates the subject 200 with auxiliary light according to the situation at the time of shooting. This prevents insufficient brightness and unevenness during shooting.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an outline of communication between the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 in the present embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, communication can be performed with the digital camera 100 in the shooting mode. At the time of image data communication, the digital camera 100 is set to the shooting mode, and the image of the digital camera 300 is displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 100 as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, the digital camera 300 is set to the reproduction mode, and the image to be transmitted to the digital camera 100 is reproduced and displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 300 as shown in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, an image displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 300 is transmitted to the digital camera 100 by performing an operation of “photographing” the digital camera 300 with the digital camera 100 in such a state. Is done. That is, the concept of a human interface is as if an image displayed on the digital camera 300 is captured by the digital camera 100.

  That is, the user of the digital camera 300 only has to display an image to be sent to the digital camera 100 on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 300, and the user of the digital camera 100 can release the release switch of the operation unit 102 in the same manner as the photographing operation. An image displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 300 can be acquired simply by operating 102a. As described above, in the present embodiment, an image of the digital camera 300 can be acquired as if it were a general shooting operation without performing difficult communication settings.

  In the following, processing for realizing the operation shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the user of the transmitting digital camera at the time of communication in the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the user of the receiving digital camera at the time of communication in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing of the transmission-side digital camera at the time of communication in the first embodiment. Further, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing of the receiving digital camera at the time of communication in the first embodiment.

  Here, in the following description, the digital camera 100 is described as a receiving digital camera and the digital camera 300 is described as a transmitting digital camera. However, the relationship between the receiving digital camera and the transmitting digital camera may be reversed.

  First, with reference to FIG. 4, the operation of the user of the digital camera 300 that is the transmission-side digital camera will be described. The user of the digital camera 300 switches the operation mode of the digital camera 300 to the playback mode (step S101), and then selects an image to be transmitted (step S102). As a result, the image is reproduced and displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 300.

  In this state, the user turns on the release switch 102a (step S103). In response to this, the digital camera 300 transmits an image. Thereafter, the user waits with the digital camera 300 facing the digital camera 100 until the communication is completed while confirming whether the communication is completed (step S104).

  Next, an operation of the user of the digital camera 100 that is the receiving digital camera will be described with reference to FIG. The user of the digital camera 100 changes the operation mode of the digital camera 100 to the shooting mode (step S201), and then confirms that the image of the digital camera 300 is displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 100 (step S202). . In the confirmation in step S202, if the position of the digital camera 100 and the position of the digital camera 300 are misaligned and the image of the digital camera 300 is not displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 100, the image of the display panel 111 is displayed. The position of the digital camera 100 is adjusted while watching (step S203).

  On the other hand, when the image of the digital camera 300 is displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 100 in the confirmation in step S202, the user turns on the release switch 102a of the digital camera 300 (step S204). Thereby, image communication is performed with the digital camera 300.

  Thereafter, the user confirms the result of communication (step S205). In the confirmation in step S205, if the communication is correctly completed, the communication operation is ended as it is. On the other hand, if the communication connection is not established or the communication fails in the confirmation in step S205, the position of the digital camera 100 is adjusted while viewing the image on the display panel 111 (step S206).

  Here, when adjusting the positions of step S203 and step S206, the position of the digital camera 300 can be easily confirmed from the image displayed on the display panel 111. Therefore, it is possible to perform the alignment more easily than the sense.

  Next, processing of the digital camera 300 will be described with reference to FIG. The MPU 101 of the digital camera 300 determines whether or not the operation mode has been switched to the playback mode by a user operation (step S301). When the playback mode is switched in the determination in step S301, the MPU 101 displays an image selected by the user on the display panel 111 in response to an image selection operation by the user (step S302).

  Next, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the release switch 102a is turned on by the user (step S303). If it is determined in step S303 that the release switch 102a is not turned on, the image display is continued. On the other hand, when the release switch 102a is turned on in the determination in step S303, the MPU 101 sets the infrared communication unit 117 to the operating state (step S304), and then the image transmission request signal from the digital camera 100 is transmitted to the infrared communication unit 117. (Step S305), and waits until an image transmission request signal is received.

  In step S305, when the image transmission request signal is received by the infrared communication unit 117, the MPU 101 transmits the image displayed on the display panel 111 to the digital camera 100 via the infrared communication unit 117 ( Step S306). Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether to end communication (step S307). This can be determined, for example, based on whether a signal indicating that communication is to be terminated is received from the digital camera 100.

  In the determination in step S307, when the communication is terminated, the MPU 101 displays, for example, on the display panel 111 that the communication has been correctly performed (step S308), and then terminates the process. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S307 that communication is not terminated, the process returns to step S305 to wait for reception of an image transmission request signal.

  Here, after operating the infrared communication unit 117 in step S304, if there is no response from the digital camera 100 for a predetermined time, the communication may be forcibly terminated.

  Next, processing of the digital camera 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The MPU 101 of the digital camera 100 determines whether or not the operation mode has been switched to the shooting mode by a user operation (step S401). In the determination in step S401, when the shooting mode is switched, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the release switch 102a is turned on by the user (step S402). Then, it waits until the release switch 102a is turned on.

  When the release switch 102a is turned on in the determination in step S402, the MPU 101 controls the image sensor 107 to acquire an image (step S403). Thereafter, the MPU 101 detects the contour component of the acquired image by the shape detection circuit 112 and detects the distance to the subject by the distance detection circuit 113 (step S404). Then, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the distance to the subject is within a predetermined distance where infrared communication is effective (step S405) and whether or not the subject has a predetermined shape for performing infrared communication (step S406). Judge each one. Note that the determination method in step S406 will be described later.

  When the subject is a predetermined distance or longer in the determination in step S405, or when the subject is not in a predetermined shape for performing infrared communication in the determination in step S406, the MPU 101 processes the acquired image in the image processing circuit 109, and A normal photographing process for recording on the recording medium 116 is performed (step S407).

  On the other hand, when the subject is within a predetermined distance in the determination in step S405 and the subject has a predetermined shape in the determination in step S406, the MPU 101 starts the operation of the infrared communication unit 117 (step S408), and the infrared communication unit An image transmission request signal is transmitted to the digital camera 300 via 117 (step S409). Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether the communication has timed out while measuring the communication time (step S410). If it is determined in step S410 that the time has expired, the MPU 101 displays a warning on the display panel 111 (step S411) and ends the process. By forcibly terminating communication in this way, it is possible to reduce waste of energy caused by performing infrared light emission and light reception corresponding to the light emission for a long time.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S410 that the time has not expired, the MPU 101 determines whether an image is received from the digital camera 300 (step S412). In the determination in step S412, when an image is received, the MPU 101 transmits a communication end signal indicating that communication is to be ended to the digital camera 300 (step S413), and then indicates that the communication has been correctly performed, for example, a digital camera. 100 is displayed on the display panel 111 (step S414), and the process is terminated. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S412 that an image has not been received, the process returns to step S409, and an image transmission request signal is transmitted again.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the predetermined shape determination processing in step S406 of FIG.

  First, in order to facilitate the determination of the camera feature, the MPU 101 of the digital camera 100 performs sharpness processing for enhancing the contour of the subject detected by the shape detection circuit 112 by the image processing circuit 109 (step S501).

  Next, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the contour of the subject detected by the shape detection circuit 112 is a substantially square shape that indicates the outer shape of the digital camera 300 (step S502). If it is determined in step S502 that the contour of the subject is a substantially square, the MPU 101 determines whether or not a black window has been detected at a predetermined position of the image in the substantially square (step S503). Here, the black window is a visible light cut filter of the infrared communication unit. As described above, the visible light cut filter covers the light projecting unit 117a and the light receiving unit 117b of the infrared communication unit 117. Further, the predetermined position is the position of the visible light cut filter when the digital camera 300 is positioned substantially in front of the digital camera 100, for example. That is, when the visible light cut filter is detected at the predetermined position in the determination in step S503, the image of the digital camera 300 is displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 100 as shown in FIG. I think that it is in the state to do. The black window can be detected by, for example, matching processing.

  If it is determined in step S503 that a black window has been detected, the MPU 101 determines that the subject has a predetermined shape (step S504). On the other hand, when a black window cannot be detected, the MPU 101 determines that the subject does not have a predetermined shape (step S505).

  In the determination in step S502, if the contour of the subject detected by the shape detection circuit 112 is not a substantially square shape indicating the outer shape of the digital camera 300, whether or not the infrared communication unit 117 exists in the image is determined. judge. For this purpose, the MPU 101 irradiates the subject with infrared light by the light projecting unit 117a (step S506), and then controls the image sensor 107 to acquire an image (step S507). Subsequently, the image sensor 107 is controlled to acquire an image without performing irradiation of infrared light by the light projecting unit 117a (step S508).

  Thereafter, the MPU 101 obtains a difference portion at a predetermined position between the image obtained when the infrared light irradiation is performed and the image obtained when the infrared light irradiation is not performed, and the obtained difference portion. It is determined whether or not is a window shape (step S509). If it is determined in step S509 that the difference portion at the predetermined position has a window shape, the process proceeds to step S504, and the MPU 101 determines that the subject has the predetermined shape. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S509 that the difference portion at the predetermined position is not the window shape, the process proceeds to step S505, and the MPU 101 determines that the subject does not have the predetermined shape.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, when performing infrared communication between the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300, the user performs an operation of setting the operation mode of the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 to the communication mode. The user of the digital camera 100 on the receiving side can acquire the image recorded on the digital camera 300 on the transmitting side by infrared communication only by “photographing” the digital camera 300 without performing the above. . Also, the image can be transmitted by a simple operation of turning on the release switch 102a of the digital camera 300 on the transmission side. As a result, it is possible to easily obtain an image of himself / herself recorded in another person's digital camera at a destination or the like.

  Prior to communication, the infrared communication unit 117 of the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 infrared communication unit 117 are aligned, and infrared communication is started when the positions of the two devices are determined. The narrowness of directivity is not a problem, and images can be easily transferred. Furthermore, since alignment during communication can be performed while viewing an image displayed on the display panel 111, it can be performed more easily than when the devices are held over each other.

  Here, in the first embodiment, the case of a digital camera in which both the imaging apparatus and the external apparatus have the same configuration has been described as an example. However, the technique of the first embodiment described above is illustrated in FIG. The present invention can also be applied to communication between different devices such as the digital camera 100 and the mobile phone 400 as shown in a). In such a case, the arrangement of the infrared communication unit 117 differs depending on the type of communication, and it may be assumed that communication cannot be performed simply by placing the infrared communication unit 117 in front of the digital camera 100. Therefore, when the transmission-side device is imaged by the reception-side device (the device in the shooting mode, for example, the digital camera 100), the image of the infrared communication unit 117 is detected by the above-described method of detecting the black window. If the guide display 111a for performing the alignment of the infrared communication unit 117 shown in FIG. 10B is displayed while being detected and displayed on the display panel 111, devices having different infrared communication unit 117 positions are displayed. But it can be easily aligned.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, an example of transmitting an image of the digital camera 300 to the digital camera 100 by “photographing” the digital camera 300 with the digital camera 100 will be described as an example of making the operation during communication simple and easy to understand. did. In contrast, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11A, an image displayed on the display panel 111 of the digital camera 300 (this image is taken by the digital camera 300 and reproduced and displayed on the display panel 111. Communication) is performed by an operation as if it is “transferred” to the display panel 111 of the digital camera 100. In the second embodiment, it is assumed that the infrared communication unit 117 is arranged close to the display panel 111 as shown in FIG.

  Here, for the alignment of the infrared communication unit 117 between the second devices, for example, a light receiving element provided to make it easy to see the image on the display panel 111 outdoors can be used. This light receiving element is a light receiving element formed integrally with the display panel 111 together with a transistor or the like for driving the display panel 111, as indicated by reference numeral 111b in FIG. The light receiving element 111b is formed not on the entire surface of the display panel 111 but on only a part thereof.

  The light reaction control unit 111c detects the output signal of the light receiving element 111b and controls the light emission luminance of the backlight 111d of the display panel 111 accordingly. For example, when the sunlight reflected on the display panel 111 is strong, the output signal from the light receiving element 111b also increases, so the light reaction control unit 111c improves the S / N by increasing the light emission luminance of the backlight 111d. To do. On the contrary, when the reflection of sunlight on the display panel 111 is weak, the output signal from the light receiving element 111b becomes small, so that the light reaction control unit 111c lowers the light emission luminance of the backlight 111d. Such an operation facilitates framing of a subject during outdoor shooting.

  The light reaction control unit 111c that controls the light receiving element 111b and the backlight 111d is activated when the display panel 111 is in a display state. If this is used for communication, a special energy consumption is achieved. It is possible to perform communication without needing.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 11C, when the digital camera 300 on the image transmission side (in the reproduction mode) detects a release operation from the user, for example, the luminance of the backlight 111d is set to a predetermined value. Increase or decrease with period. When light having a predetermined period from the backlight 111d of the digital camera 300 can be received by the light receiving element 111b of the digital camera 100 on the receiving side, the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 are aligned, and the image is displayed. The image transmission request signal is transmitted from the infrared communication unit 117 after determining that the image is transmitted. If the image transmission request signal is received by the infrared communication unit 117 of the digital camera 300 and is transmitted in response to the received signal, the image transmission / reception as shown in FIG. 11A can be performed. is there.

  Hereinafter, processing for realizing the operation shown in FIG. 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing of the digital camera 300 at the time of communication in the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the digital camera 100 during communication in the first embodiment.

  First, processing of the digital camera 300 on the transmission side will be described with reference to FIG. The MPU 101 of the digital camera 300 determines whether or not the operation mode has been switched to the playback mode by a user operation (step S601). In the determination in step S601, when the playback mode is switched, the MPU 101 displays an image selected by the user on the display panel 111 in response to an image selection operation by the user (step S602).

  Next, the MPU 101 determines whether or not the release switch 102a is turned on by the user (step S603). If it is determined in step S603 that the release switch 102a is not turned on, the image display is continued. On the other hand, when the release switch 102a is turned on in the determination of step S603, the MPU 101 changes the luminance of the backlight 111d in a predetermined cycle by setting the infrared communication unit 117 to the operating state and controlling the light reaction control unit 111c. (Step S604). Then, it waits until an image transmission request signal is received.

  If the image transmission request signal is received by the infrared communication unit 117 in the determination in step S605, the MPU 101 transmits the image displayed on the display panel 111 to the digital camera 100 via the infrared communication unit 117 ( Step S606). Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether or not to end the communication (step S607). This can be determined, for example, based on whether a signal indicating that communication is to be terminated is received from the digital camera 100.

  In the determination in step S607, when the communication is terminated, the MPU 101 displays, for example, on the display panel 111 that the communication has been correctly performed (step S608), and then terminates the process. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S607 that communication is not terminated, the process returns to step S605 and waits for reception of an image transmission request signal.

  Next, processing of the digital camera 100 on the receiving side will be described with reference to FIG. The MPU 101 of the digital camera 100 turns on the display panel 111 and reproduces and displays an image (step S701). This may be a case where the selected image is reproduced and displayed in the reproduction mode, or may be a reproduction display of the image for framing in the photographing mode. Note that if a release operation is performed during playback and display of an image for framing, the image is taken.

  As described above, when the display panel 111 is in the ON state, the brightness of the external light is detected by the light receiving element 111b. In this state, the MPU 101 detects light having a predetermined period by the backlight 111d of the digital camera 300 by determining whether or not the luminance variation detected by the light receiving element 111b is a predetermined period (step S702).

  In the determination of step S702, if the variation in luminance detected by the light receiving element 111b is not a predetermined period, infrared communication is not performed. Therefore, the backlight 111d of the digital camera 100 according to the luminance of the light received by the light receiving element 111b. Is controlled (step S703).

  On the other hand, in the determination in step S702, if the variation in luminance detected by the light receiving element 111b is a predetermined period, it means that the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 have been aligned. In this case, the MPU 101 starts the operation of the infrared communication unit 117 (step S704), and transmits an image transmission request signal to the digital camera 300 via the infrared communication unit 117 (step S705). Thereafter, the MPU 101 determines whether the communication has timed out while measuring the communication time (step S706). If it is determined in step S706 that the time has expired, the MPU 101 displays a warning on the display panel 111 (step S707) and ends the process.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S707 that the time has not expired, the MPU 101 determines whether an image is received from the digital camera 300 (step S708). In the determination of step S708, when an image is received, the MPU 101 transmits a communication end signal indicating that communication is to be ended to the digital camera 300 (step S709), and then indicates that the communication has been correctly performed, for example, a digital camera. 100 is displayed on the display panel 111 (step S710), and the process ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S708 that an image has not been received, the process returns to step S705, and an image transmission request signal is transmitted again.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, when performing infrared communication between the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300, the user performs an operation of setting the operation mode of the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 to the communication mode. The image recorded on the digital camera 300 on the transmission side is acquired by infrared communication simply by “transferring” the image reproduced and displayed on the digital camera 300 on the reception side to the digital camera 100. It is possible.

  In addition, when the display panel 111 is operating in the playback mode or the shooting mode, the light reaction control unit 111c determines the amount of external light, so that the function can be used to enter the communication mode. The infrared communication unit 117 is moved unnecessarily, so that useless energy is not consumed.

  Further, since the alignment of the infrared communication unit 117 can be performed using the light receiving element 111b and the backlight 111d constituting the display panel 111, the alignment can be performed in a relatively short time.

  Here, the technique of the second embodiment can also be applied to communication between different devices such as the digital camera 100 and the mobile phone 400 as shown in FIG. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 14B, the light receiving elements 111b of the digital camera 100 may be provided in a scattered manner, and the process shown in FIG. 15 may be performed.

  In FIG. 15, first, the light receiving element 111b at a predetermined position is set in an operating state (step S801). Then, the MPU 101 determines whether or not an optical signal with a predetermined period cannot be detected for a predetermined time at the light receiving element position (step S802). If it is determined in step S802 that an optical signal having a predetermined period has been detected, the process proceeds to step S704 in FIG. On the other hand, in the determination in step S802, if an optical signal having a predetermined cycle cannot be detected, the light receiving element position to be activated is changed (step S803), and the process proceeds to step S703 in FIG.

  In FIG. 15, the position of the light receiving element of the digital camera 100 in the operating state is changed. However, if only a part of the backlight 111 d of the mobile phone 400 can emit light with periodic fluctuations, the periodic fluctuations will occur. Communication between different devices can also be performed by changing the light emission position every predetermined time.

  Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and applications are naturally possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, each of the above-described embodiments has described an example in which an image is transmitted / received. For example, an image such as a record jacket is displayed on the display panel 111, and music data is actually transmitted / received. It can also be applied to certain usages.

  Further, the above-described embodiments include various stages of the invention, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some configuration requirements are deleted from all the configuration requirements shown in the embodiment, the above-described problem can be solved, and this configuration requirement is deleted when the above-described effects can be obtained. The configuration can also be extracted as an invention.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital camera as an example of an imaging apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure shown about the structure of an infrared communication part. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary about the communication between the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 in 1st Embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about the user's operation of the transmission side digital camera in the case of communication in 1st Embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about operation of the user of the receiving digital camera in the case of communication in 1st Embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about the process of the transmission side digital camera in the case of communication in 1st Embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about the process of the receiving side digital camera in the case of communication in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart shown about the process of predetermined shape determination of step S406 of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display image when a digital camera 300 is disposed almost in front of the digital camera 100. It is the figure shown about the outline | summary in the case of applying 1st Embodiment with respect to communication between different apparatuses. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary about the communication between the digital camera 100 and the digital camera 300 in 2nd Embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about the process of the transmission side digital camera in the case of communication in 2nd Embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about the process of the receiving digital camera in the case of communication in 2nd Embodiment. It is the figure shown about the outline in the case of applying 2nd Embodiment with respect to communication between different apparatuses. It is a flowchart shown about the position change of a light receiving element.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Digital camera, 101 ... Micro processing unit (MPU), 102 ... Operation part, 102a ... Release switch, 102b ... Changeover switch, 103 ... Shooting lens, 104 ... Auto-focus (AF) circuit, 105 ... Aperture mechanism, 106 ... Aperture control circuit, 107 ... imaging device, 108 ... analog front end (AFE) circuit, 109 ... image processing circuit, 110 ... display control circuit, 111 ... display panel, 111b ... light receiving element, 111c ... light reaction control unit, 111d ... Backlight 112 ... shape detection circuit 113 ... distance detection circuit 114 ... compression unit 115 ... recording control circuit 116 ... recording medium 117 ... infrared communication unit 118 ... auxiliary light emitting circuit 300 ... external device (digital) Camera), 400 ... mobile phone

Claims (3)

Operation means for instructing to start shooting;
An imaging unit that captures an image of a subject in response to an instruction to start shooting by the operation unit;
Receiving means for receiving data from an external device;
A determination unit that receives an instruction to start photographing by the operation unit and determines whether the external device is disposed at a position where the data can be received by the reception unit;
The data received by the receiving means when the operation means receives an instruction to start photographing of the external apparatus and the determining means determines that the external apparatus is located at a position where the data can be received. Reception control means for starting reception of
Equipped with,
The determination unit is configured to detect the data when the subject in the image acquired by the imaging unit is the external device existing at a predetermined distance and the data transmission unit is detected in the image of the external device. It is determined that the external device is arranged at a position where the signal can be received . Operation means for instructing to start shooting;
An imaging unit that captures an image of a subject in response to an instruction to start shooting by the operation unit;
Receiving means for receiving data from an external device;
A determination unit that receives an instruction to start photographing by the operation unit and determines whether the external device is disposed at a position where the data can be received by the reception unit;
The data received by the receiving means when the operation means receives an instruction to start photographing of the external apparatus and the determining means determines that the external apparatus is located at a position where the data can be received. Reception control means for starting reception of
Comprising
The determination means includes a periodic signal receiving means for receiving a signal of a predetermined period from the external device,
An imaging apparatus, wherein when an external signal from the external apparatus can be received, it is determined that the external apparatus is disposed at a position where the data can be received. Including display means for displaying an image acquired by the imaging means,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the periodic signal receiving unit is provided in the display unit.

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