JP2000244855A - Recording method for image data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To calculate the time needed to read in only part of data and reproduce an image and to shorten the time needed to read in the image by recording image information data needed to calculate the reproduction time of the image. SOLUTION: When images and their information are recorded on a recording medium, image reproduction data are gathered at the header part of a recording area and image information data needed to calculate the reproduction time of the images is recorded. The total number of recorded images and the total number of prints are recorded in part of the image reproduction data and this data and only 1st data are read in to calculate and display the time needed for image reproduction. Consequently, the reproduction time of the images can accurately be calculated by reading in only the partial image information data and consequently a user is able to accurately obtain the time needed for image reproduction through the time display, etc., thereby shortening the read-in time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for recording image data, and more particularly to a method for reading only a part of data and calculating a time required for image reproduction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image photographed by a photographing apparatus is stored in a memory card, a floppy disk (hereinafter simply referred to as an F-disk).
D) is recorded on a recording medium, and the recording medium is loaded into a personal computer or a printing apparatus to reproduce an image.

[0003] The above-described recording medium can generally record tens to hundreds of images. In recent years, it has also been proposed to record information on necessity of printing on a recording medium together with an image photographed by a digital camera or the like.

[0004]

However, when printing an image on a recording medium on which the above-described print information is recorded, if the number of images to be printed is large, it takes a considerable amount of time to print, and the user is required to do nothing during that time. There was a problem of having to wait.

On the other hand, as a recording method on a recording medium such as a digital camera, Exif (Exchangeable image file format) is used.
Ver1.0, Ver2.0 which evolved the standard, and POF
(Print Operation Format) is proposed, but in order to efficiently manage and print each image, a standard that mainly considers how to read all recorded data and how to handle the data afterwards Therefore, it is hard to say that it is suitable for displaying time or reducing time for image reproduction. Even if the two standards are matched, it is not possible to calculate the image reproduction time by reading only image information data. It is possible.

The APS (Advanced Photo System) standard is a standard that can record the print size and the number of prints. However, only by recording the print size and the number of prints, the total playback time of the image is estimated and calculated. It is impossible to do. In addition, the APS system is an analog silver halide technology, and is significantly different from a digital camera technology that requires data reading and display names, and is not applicable.

Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-114004, there has been proposed an apparatus that predicts and calculates a print time and notifies the user of the print time. Since it is a technique for predicting and calculating time, no consideration is given to image data to be recorded on a recording medium.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of recording image data in which the time required for image reproduction can be calculated by reading only some data in such a situation.

[0009]

Therefore, according to the image data recording method of the present invention, a plurality of images and information corresponding to each image are recorded on a recording medium capable of recording a still image. In a recording method for recording a recording medium, image information data necessary for calculating a reproduction time of an image is recorded.

One of the features of the present invention is that, when a plurality of images and their information are recorded on a recording medium, image information data necessary for calculating a reproduction time of the images is recorded. Thus, by reading only a part of the image information data, the reproduction time of the image can be accurately calculated. As a result, the user can know the time required for accurate image reproduction by displaying the time or the like, and the user's convenience can be achieved without unnecessary waiting time.

The reproduction time of the image may be a time from the start of reading the image to the end of the printing, or may be a processing time that accounts for a large proportion of the total reproduction time. That is, the image reproduction time preferably includes at least one of the image data read time, the image data display time, and the image data print time.

The image information data required for calculating the image reproduction time is selected from the group consisting of the data capacity of each image, the image resolution of each image, the number of prints of each image, the image compression ratio of each image, and the print size. It may include a plurality of data.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to specific examples shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view showing a preferred embodiment of an image reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, which is an example applied to a coin vender type apparatus in which a user inputs a fee, checks an image by himself, and prints. In the figure, an image reproducing apparatus 1 includes an image recording medium loading section 2, a monitor 4, a keyboard (reproduction mode selecting means) 5,
A printer unit having a print outlet (however, only the print outlet is shown in FIG. 1) 6, a panel 7 for displaying the type of a loadable medium, and a charge inlet 8 are provided.

In this embodiment, the image recording medium loading section 2 is configured to be capable of loading four types of recording media, and the image recording medium loading section 2 is provided with a dustproof cover 3. Note that a dustproof shutter may be provided at each loading port instead of the cover. Also, monitor 4
Displays an image and an operation instruction, and a touch panel is provided on the surface thereof.

FIG. 2 shows the details of the recording medium loading section 2 and the display panel 7. In the figure, the display panel 7 displays the shapes of four types of media that can be loaded in the apparatus. Here, SM indicates smart media, CF indicates compact flash, CD indicates optical disk (compact disk), and FD indicates floppy disk, and the number before each symbol corresponds to the number of the loading slot.

The user compares the type of the recording medium with the display on the display panel (reproduction mode selecting means) 7 and selects the corresponding medium. For selection, a touch switch may be provided on the display panel 7 and used, or a number may be input by the keyboard 5. When a medium is selected, a display 21 provided beside the loading port corresponding to the selected medium is turned on. FIG. 2 shows an example in which smart media is selected. The user loads the recording medium into the driver whose display 21 is lit. In this way, the user can identify his / her medium and does not load the wrong loading slot.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the inside of the apparatus.
In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a drive (reading means) for reading an image recorded on a smart media. Since the smart media is a memory for storing data, it is possible to directly read data at a storage location (address). . Reference numeral 11 denotes a drive (reading means) for reading an image recorded on the compact flash. Since the compact flash has an uCOM for I / F inside, the drive side communicates with the I / F-uCOM. Data at a predetermined position can be read.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a drive (reading means) for reading an image recorded on a CD such as a CD-ROM or a CD-R.
Thus, data recorded on a CD by the optical pickup lens can be read. Reference numeral 13 denotes a drive (reading means) for reading an image recorded on the FD, and can read data recorded with a magnetic signal by a magnetic head.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an image signal processing unit (reproducing means) for processing image signals for monitoring and printing out of data read from each medium, and 15 denotes a memory unit for recording a signal-processed image. The contents recorded in the section 15 are reproduced by the monitor 4 and the printer section 6.
Reference numeral 16 denotes an interface with the printer unit 6.
6 is sent. Reference numeral 17 denotes an overall control unit (read control means) for controlling the entire apparatus.

Here, the tag information recorded on each medium is read by each of the drives 10 to 13 and sent to the overall control unit 17. FIGS. 4 to 8 show examples of the structure of data recorded on a medium.

FIG. 4 shows a data array of a recording medium standardized by the conventional Exif Ver 2.0. Each image data is 1
The data of each frame is stored in a tag data section (image information data section), a thumbnail image data section (for thumbnail display: 80 × 60 pixels), and a high-resolution image data section (for example, 640 × 480 pixels). Consists of

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the default Exif (Exchangeable
image file format) Contents of tag data of Ver2.0. According to the Exif standard, tag data can be classified into a TIFF option (FIG. 5) and information attached to the Exif IFD (FIG. 6), each of which is composed of the following types of data groups. <TIFF option tags> A group of tags relating to the configuration of image data, a group of tags relating to the recording position of the image, a group of tags relating to the characteristics of the image data, and other tags. <Exif IFD attached information> Tags related to version, tags related to characteristics of image data, tags related to structure,
Tags related to user information, tags related to related file information, tags related to date and time.

Each data content is described in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, but it is necessary to predict the time of image reproduction time (image data reading, image data index display, image data printing). Only the image resolution and the image compression ratio among the image data capacity (of the image), the image resolution, the number of recorded images, the number of prints, and the image compression ratio are described, and the image playback time cannot be calculated.

Further, a technique for recording the number of prints according to the APS (Advanced Photo System) standard or the like is disclosed. By using this technology, the time required for the actual printing process can be roughly calculated.However, since this technology is an analog printing technology corresponding to silver halide film, image development for printing, data reading, It has nothing to do with the technique for calculating the time required to display data.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-114004 discloses a technique for "calculating and estimating print time" in order to display "scheduled time until print completion". The calculation of the print time is performed by calculating the total number of prints from the expected number of prints of the image data currently being printed and the expected number of prints waiting for the start of the printing process, and calculating the total number of prints and the time from the current environmental conditions to the completion of the print. The operation is predicted. Also, Exif Ver 2.0 tag data and APS data,
Even with the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 04-2004, it is impossible to predict and calculate a high total image reproduction time.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a data array in a recording medium according to the present invention. In the present invention, the recording location of the tag data is set at the same position as Exif Ver 2.0, but the contents of the tag data include the following data. That is, image resolution, image data capacity, image compression ratio,
Print size, number of prints. By including this data, it is possible to predict and calculate the time required for image reproduction. The details will be described later.

FIG. 8 shows another example of an image data recording array in a recording medium according to the present invention. The features of the present invention are as follows. . The point is that the image reproduction data is gathered in the header portion of the recording area. As a result, by reading data at one location,
By grasping the contents of the image data, the image reproduction time can be calculated. . The point is that the total number of recorded images and the total number of prints are recorded as part of the image reproduction data. By reading only this data and the first data, the time required for image reproduction can be calculated and displayed. As a result, the user can select a reproduction method according to his / her preference.

The calculation and recording method on the camera side of the data of the total number of prints and the total number of prints shown in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to the camera data recording flowchart of FIG. When the process is started, the camera CPU first waits until the power is turned on (step S51). When the power is turned on, the data of the recording medium is read (step S5).
2) The following data is set according to the read data. That is, the total recording number counter nR and the total printing number counter nP read the values of the total recording number and the total number of prints recorded on the recording medium before the power was last turned off, and are set in the counters (step S5).
3). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the power has been turned off (step S54). When the power has been turned off, the process ends.

If the power is not turned off, that is, if the power remains on, it is determined whether or not the photographing switch is turned on (step S55), and the process waits until the photographing switch is turned on. , Solid-state imaging device (CCD)
Is performed, and the image data is electrically read (step S56). Next, the image data stored in the CCD is taken into the memory (step S5).
7), the total number-of-recorded-sheets counter nR is counted up by 1 (step S58), and an indication to that effect is displayed to set data on how many copies of this image are to be printed.

When the photographer sets the number of prints, the number of prints is input as P (step S60),
P is added to the total print number counter nP (step S60).
Predetermined image data processing (image correction, data compression, etc.) is performed (step S61), and the image data is combined with image information data (image resolution, image capacity, image compression ratio, etc.) (step S62). The data is recorded on the recording medium (step S63), and the processing from the power-off determination is repeated.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show flowcharts of processing from the loading of the medium to the printing. Hereinafter, this process will be described together with a display example of the monitor 4 in FIG. When the process is started and the type of the recording medium is selected as described above (step S1), the display 21 on the side of the selected media loading port 2 is turned on (step S2),
It waits for a medium to be loaded (step S3).
When the medium is loaded, the reading process of the image data is started, and first, the display 21 blinks (step S).
4). By changing the display 21 from lighting to blinking, the user is notified that the image data is being read,
This prevents the recording medium from being pulled out during reading.

Next, a subroutine for reading basic data is called, basic data (basic data to be read before reading all image data) is read (step S5), and the time required for image reproduction from the read data is read. The calculation is performed and displayed on the monitor 4 (step S6).
The image reproduction time is the total time of the image data read time tr, the image data index display time td, and the image data print time tp. Hereinafter, the calculation method will be described.

[Image data input (read) time tr]
Consideration is also given to a case where the tag data (image information data) does not include information necessary for calculating the reproduction time. When the image data is included in the tag data, the reading time tr of the image data is obtained by tr = ({each image data capacity) / image reading speed Vr Formula 1-1. However, Vr changes depending on the input medium.

When the image data is not included in the tag data, the read time tr of the image data is obtained by the following expression: tr = the number of image data nr * the first image data capacity a / Vr. However, only the first image data is read, and the data capacity is calculated by the image reproducing apparatus.

[Image Data Index Display Time] The image data index display time td is obtained by the following equation: td = number of image data nr * each image reduction time t1.

[Image data print time tp] The image data print time tp is tp = print image number np *
(Each image enlargement time t2 + Each image print time t3) + Print initial time t30) However, t1, t2, and t3 are affected by the following data. t1: Index display image resolution (resolution of index display image), image resolution, image compression ratio t2: Image resolution, print size t3: Print size

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the print time is displayed.
This is shown in 3 (a). This screen exemplifies the following information. That is, loaded media: compact flash, number of recorded image data: 12, number of printed images: 9, image data reading time: 1 minute (from equation 1-1 or equation 1-2), image data index display time: 2 Minutes (from equation 2), print time: 5 minutes (from equation 3)

In the state of the screen shown in FIG. 13A, if the user wants to check the image to be printed by index display, he selects "index display" on the screen (step S7). Then, irrespective of the print setting data (data in which the number of set prints is entered), all the recorded data are read and index-displayed on the monitor 4 (steps S8 to S10). FIG. 13B shows an example of the index display screen. In FIG. 13B, 3 * 4 index images are arranged, and the number of each image is the number of prints. In addition, for print presence / absence of image,
ON / OFF may be displayed.

When the index is displayed, it is determined whether or not to print (step S11). When printing is performed, when a print switch is pressed, each image is printed (steps S11 and S12), and the process is performed. finish.

In the state of the screen shown in FIG. 13A, when the displayed image has a short print time and the user wants to print while confirming the image, select "single frame display" on the screen. I do. Also in this mode, regardless of the print setting data, all the recording data are sequentially read, images are sequentially displayed, and printing is confirmed.
That is, first, it is determined whether or not to perform batch printing (step S13). Since it is not batch printing, reading of image data is started (step S14), and it is determined whether or not the cancel button is pressed (step S14). Step S1
5) An image is displayed frame by frame (step S1)
6) It is determined whether or not to print (step S1)
7) When the print switch is pressed, printing starts (step S18), and the above-described processing is repeated until all image data is completed or the cancel button is pressed (step S19).

If it takes a long time to read and print, and if it is desired to cancel on the way, it can be canceled by pressing a cancel button (not shown) provided on the keyboard 5, and when it is canceled, the reading ends. FIG. 13C shows an example in which an image of one frame is read and displayed. When the print switch is pressed in this state, printing is started, and the images of the previous and next frame numbers are read and displayed by the "previous frame" and "next frame" switches. Further, as described above, the image reading of the next frame is started at the same time as the printing is started, and the printing and the image reading are performed in parallel, thereby shortening the time.

In the state of the screen shown in FIG. 13A, if it is not necessary to confirm the print image and it is desired to perform printing without displaying the image, "batch print" on the screen is selected. When this menu is selected, since image reproduction is expected in as short a time as possible, only data for which print settings have been made is read.

That is, when the process is started, only the image for which print setting has been performed is read (step S20).
The printing is executed without displaying the image data such as the index display (step S21). The process ends when the cancel button is pressed or the print setting image is printed on all frames (step S22,
S23).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a subroutine for reading basic data, which is a subroutine suitable when the data array in the recording medium is the array shown in FIG. When the process is started, the tab data portion of each pixel data is read (step S31), and only the first image data is read from the high resolution image data portion (step S32). finish.

FIG. 12 shows another flowchart of the subroutine for reading the basic data, which is a subroutine suitable for the case where the data array in the recording medium is the array shown in FIG. When the process is started, only the header data portion is read, and when the reading is completed, the process ends.

FIG. 13D shows a modification of the index display screen. The present example is a display example in which not only the information of necessity of printing but also the number of prints of each image is recorded in the tag portion of the memory card. In the figure, the number of prints is displayed corresponding to each image.

FIG. 13E shows an example of an input screen for the number of prints when the number of prints information is not recorded.
Although each photo is one image, when printing the same image a plurality of times, the number of prints is input by the keyboard 5. This screen is displayed when an image for which the number of prints is to be input is selected on the index screen shown in FIG. 13B, or when the touch switch on the image is pressed in the single frame display state shown in FIG. 13C. What should I do?

FIG. 13F shows an example in which the input number of prints and the print time are displayed. This is displayed after the index display is completed or after batch printing is selected to notify the image end time. In the example, the number of prints: 1
Eight sheets, print time: about 10 minutes are exemplified.

FIG. 14 shows a display example in which the image shown in FIG. 13A is further improved. The required time required for each reproduction processing time is displayed, and when a selectable menu is selected, the required time until printing is completed is displayed. This display makes it easier for the user to select a menu.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an image reproducing apparatus using a recording medium to which a preferred embodiment of an image data recording method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing details of a recording medium loading section and a display panel in the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing functional blocks of a control system in the device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional data array recorded on a recording medium.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a detailed structure of tag data in the data array shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a detailed structure of another tag data in the data array shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a data array recorded by the image data recording method according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart of an image reproduction control process using the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a flowchart following FIG. 9;

11 is a diagram showing a flowchart of a subroutine for reading basic data in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing another flowchart of the subroutine for reading basic data in FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a transition of a display example of the display unit in the above device and a modification thereof.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another display example of the display unit in the device.

FIG. 15 is a view showing a flowchart of a data recording process of the camera in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image reproducing apparatus 2 Recording medium loading part 4 Monitor 5 Keyboard 6 Printer part 7 Panel 10, 11, 12, 13 Drive 14 Image signal processing part 17 Overall control part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/91 F term (Reference) 2C061 JJ02 5B021 AA30 CC08 KK01 KK02 LB07 5C052 AA02 AA17 FA02 FA03 FA04 FB01 FB05 FC08 5C053 FA04 FA07 FA23 FA27 GB06 JA16 JA21 KA08 KA22 LA03 LA04 LA06

Claims (3)

[Claims] An image reproducing time is calculated in a recording method for recording a plurality of images and information corresponding to each image on a recording medium capable of recording a still image. A method for recording image data, characterized by recording necessary image information data. 2. The image data recording method according to claim 1, wherein the image reproduction time includes at least one of an image data read time, an image data display time, and an image data print time. 3. The image information data includes a plurality of data selected from a group of a data capacity of each image, an image resolution of each image, the number of prints of each image, an image compression ratio of each image, and a print size. Item 1. The image data recording method according to Item 1.