JP2002232826A - Still picture recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a SW for selecting whether all of still pictures are sent or specific ones of them are sent in the case of transferring the still pictures from a still picture recorder to a personal computer through a cable. SOLUTION: Transfer buttons can be reduced to one by transferring only recorded and updated picture data which is not retained in the personal computer by checking the ID of picture data recorded in the recording medium inside the still picture recorder.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for recording a still image on a recording medium, such as a digital still camera (DSC) or a digital video camcorder (DVC). PC).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a device having a still image recording function, such as a DSC or a DVC, the amount of image data information has increased due to the increase in the number of pixels of an image sensor such as a CCD in recent years. Have been doing. Therefore, the time required for transferring image data recorded via a cable such as a USB cable to a personal computer has become longer, and there is a demand for easy and efficient transfer.

Conventionally, when still image data recorded by DSC or DVC is transferred to a personal computer through a cable,
It is necessary to select an image to be transferred on the DSC or DVC side, or to select an image to be sent as a table of contents image (hereinafter, thumbnail) on the personal computer side.

A configuration of a conventional still image recording apparatus and an image transfer system will be described with reference to FIG.

The image obtained by the image pickup device 105 such as a CCD is processed by a signal processing unit 108 and stored in a recording medium 107 such as a memory card. A still image recording device such as a DSC or DVC is provided with a specific image transfer switch (hereinafter referred to as a specific image transfer switch) 501 and an all image transfer switch (hereinafter referred to as an all image transfer switch) 502.
When 01 is pressed, a switch determination unit (hereinafter, a SW determination unit) 5
03 recognizes this and displays a screen on a viewfinder (not shown) so that an image to be sent can be selected.
Generally, about six images are displayed, and image data to be transferred is selected by a specific image selection switch (hereinafter, image selection SW) 507.

[0006] In the image selection unit, based on the selected information,
The data for selection is sent to the memory control unit 106. The memory control unit 106 controls to read data selected from the recording medium based on the data.
The selected data is transferred from the memory image transfer unit 109 to a personal computer via a cable or the like.

On the other hand, when the all-image transfer SW 502 is pressed, the SW judgment unit 504 recognizes this and presses the recording medium 10.
8 is transferred to the memory image transfer unit 10
9 is output.

Another conventional configuration (not shown) is one in which a mode desired to be transferred is selected by operating a selection switch on a menu screen using a viewfinder composed of liquid crystal or the like. Is used.

[0009]

However, in the above-described conventional still image recording apparatus, the specific image transfer SW is not used.
And all image transfer SWs are separately required. In particular, there is a problem that it is difficult to secure a space for providing a switch in DVC and DSC which are required to be downsized. Also, when making a selection on the menu screen, there is a problem that the operation of the selection switch and the menu are complicated.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method in which only new data among image data recorded in a still image recording device is transferred to a personal computer in a single operation. Thus, space saving of the device and simplification of the operation can be obtained.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is directed to a recording / reproducing apparatus having a means for recording / reproducing a signal input from an image pickup device such as a CCD, and a means for transferring image data to a personal computer. And has the function of transferring only the data not stored in the destination personal computer among the image data recorded on the memory card or the like by one operation from the imaging and recording apparatus side.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a signal indicating that the image has been recorded by the still image recording apparatus is added to the still image data, and only the still image data containing the signal is selected and transmitted to the personal computer. 2. The still image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when transferring an image to a personal computer, the still image recording apparatus has an operation of transferring only a signal self-recorded by DVC or the like to the personal computer. According to a third aspect of the present invention, at least one piece of shooting date and time information is recorded in an area other than a part where a normal date and time is recorded as a signal indicating that the still image recording apparatus has recorded the information. 3. The still picture recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the still picture recording apparatus has an operation as a check signal when re-edited by a personal computer or the like.

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, what differs from the conventional configuration is the updated image transfer SW and the file information confirmation unit. The description of the same components as those of the above-described conventional example will be omitted. First, when the update image transfer SW 101 serving as a trigger for transferring image data to the personal computer is pressed, the SW determination unit 102 such as a microcomputer recognizes this and sends the information to the file information confirmation unit 103. File information confirmation unit 1
03, a command to extract information of an image data file recorded from the recording medium 107 is issued to the memory control unit 1
Get out to 04. The memory control unit 104 stores the recording medium 10
7, the recording medium 107 outputs the image data file information to the file information confirmation unit 103. The recorded file information is sent from the file information confirmation unit 103 to the file information confirmation unit 109 of the personal computer. The file information check unit of the personal computer 111 checks the file in the storage unit 110 to determine whether there is a file to be stored. The file information confirming unit 109 sends the file information other than the image data file already stored to the file information confirming unit 103 of the still image recording device again. The file information confirming unit 103 sends information for reading only the image data file not stored in the personal computer to the memory control unit 104, the image data file itself is read from the recording medium 107 and transferred to the storage unit 110 of the personal computer 111. And saved. Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2, when the update image transfer SW 101 is pressed in the process 201, a process 202 of transmitting the file information in the recording medium to the personal computer is executed, and the file of the save destination personal computer is stored. A process 203 for checking whether or not the folder has the same file as this file is performed. If no file exists, a process 204 for sending the file body is performed. When the file itself is sent, a process 205 is performed to check whether the next file to be sent to the recording medium exists in the recording medium 107. If there is a file that has not been confirmed, the next file transfer preparation 206 is performed, and then A process for checking the attribute of the file 202 is performed. When all the new updated files are stored in the storage unit 110 of the personal computer 111 in the process 205, the transfer operation ends. (Embodiment 2) An embodiment of the invention described in claim 2 of the present invention will be described. Since a removable recording medium such as a memory card is used as the recording medium, there is a possibility that data other than the image data recorded by the DVC or the DSC body, for example, image data edited and processed by a personal computer may be input. When it is desired to transfer data to a personal computer by a single operation from the main unit, image data shot by the DVC or DSC main unit is often transferred to the personal computer. In the case of self-recording by DSC or DVC, if an ID indicating self-recording is added to the information part of the recording data only at the time of self-recording, the data recorded by the personal computer is included in the recording medium. Even in this case, by checking this ID, it is possible to transfer only the image captured and recorded by the device body to the personal computer. In the initial setting of the menu or the like, the setting is such that only the image shot by the device main body is set to be sent, and when it is desired to send the image shot by another device, the menu can be selected so that the usability is improved. (Embodiment 3) An embodiment of the invention described in claim 3 of the present invention will be described. There is a possibility that the image recorded by the device main body is once stored in the personal computer and the same recording medium is returned to the device again after the title character is added. In this case, the original image is often already stored in the personal computer, so it is preferable to remove the original image from the updated image at the time of one-touch transfer. However, in the case of only the main body ID described in the second embodiment, the image in such a case is also removed. Transfer. Once transferred to a personal computer through a connection cable such as USB, edited, and returned to the recording media of the device itself, the date determined by the still image format standard is recorded with the date of processing, so it is updated. Recognized as an image. Further, since an ID indicating that the image has been shot by the main body is added to this image, the image is determined to be an updated image and becomes a target file to be transferred to the personal computer. When recording as a still image file on a recording medium, the recording date is usually recorded in a data area determined by the standard of the still image format. The same data as this date is also recorded in a data area other than the area required by the format standard. Then, by comparing the data determined by the format standard with the time information recorded other than the format standard, if this data does not match, this data is transferred once from the device itself and input again. Will be represented. The file check operation will be further described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 in which the microcomputer of the device determines that this is not the update data, and the transfer to the personal computer can be prohibited. When the recording date and time and the file name are saved as file information on the device itself, it is possible to know whether the file was saved on the personal computer or the device itself by adding it as an index. The file of No.1 is transferred to the personal computer because the same file is on the personal computer side. The No. 2 file has a different date, so the No. 3 file that has been processed once by a personal computer and returned to the memory card again has no record ID and is not recorded in the device itself. The No. 4 file is captured and recorded by the device itself, and since there is no same file on the personal computer side, only this file is sent in one touch transfer. Thus, the index is used to determine whether the file is new. Normally, the file name given when saving on the device itself is sent to the PC,
Often changed to user. By recording data such as the date, time, and the like recorded by the device body in a portion that is not changed by the user, by checking this information, it can be determined whether the data has been sent in the past. This sending method can also be entered in the menu as in the case of claim 2, so that the usability is improved.

[0015]

As described above, according to the still image recording apparatus of the present invention, only a new image data file not stored in the personal computer can be easily transferred by a single operation on the device side. This has the effect of saving space and simplifying operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a still image recording device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of attributes of image data according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a conventional still image recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Update image transfer SW 102 SW determination unit 103 File information check unit 104 Memory control unit 105 Image sensor 106 Memory image transfer unit 107 Recording medium 108 Signal processing unit 109 File information check unit 110 Storage unit 111 Personal computer 501 Specific image transfer SW 502 All Image transfer SW

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A still image recording apparatus having a function of recording a signal input from an image pickup device such as a CCD as a still image on a recording medium, wherein a personal computer connected to the still image recording apparatus stores recorded image data. A still image recording apparatus for transferring only data not stored in the personal computer among the recorded image data by one operation of the still image recording apparatus when transferring to the still image recording apparatus. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein a signal indicating that the still image is recorded by said still image recording apparatus is added to the still image data, and only the still image data including the signal is selected and transferred to a personal computer. The still image recording device as described in the above. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least one piece of shooting date and time information is recorded in an area other than a part where a normal date and time is recorded as a signal indicating that the still image recording apparatus has recorded the information. The still image recording device as described in the above.