JP2016122952A - Connection method of digital camera and cellular phone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connection method of cellular phone which allows a cellular phone to pair only not-yet-paired digital cameras (unpaired digital cameras) while being enumerated, and to pair once paired digital cameras (paired digital camera) simply without user operation.SOLUTION: When not holding the identification information of an imaging apparatus to be connected, a cellular phone displays whether or not it can be connected on display means before being connected with the imaging apparatus, and during that period, the cellular phone is not connected with other imaging apparatus holding the identification information of an imaging apparatus to be connected but is made to wait. When connecting with an imaging apparatus not holding the identification information, the cellular phone is connected therewith, and when not connecting with an imaging apparatus not holding the identification information, the cellular phone is connected with other imaging apparatus.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus with a camera that can be connected to a wireless LAN digital camera and a method for connecting the wireless LAN digital camera.

  In recent years, with the advent of mobile phones, opportunities to utilize images and videos and communicate have increased. As the opportunities increase, users will be able to use digital cameras as well as images and videos taken with the camera built into the mobile phone to meet the desire to record more beautiful images and videos. There are still opportunities to use the images and videos that have been taken.

  Under such circumstances, a wireless LAN-equipped digital camera is one of the methods for easily transferring an image on the digital camera to a mobile phone. This digital camera can directly transfer an image from the digital camera to a mobile phone. Specifically, the wireless LAN function of the mobile phone and the digital camera is used to exchange information for the wireless LAN connection between the digital camera and the mobile phone, and the digital camera becomes a host in the wireless LAN infrastructure mode. A mobile phone participates in this wireless LAN network, establishes a connection, and transfers images directly from the digital camera to the mobile phone.

  As described above, since it is necessary to establish a wireless LAN connection, specifically, it is necessary to participate in a wireless LAN network using an SSID and a password. Since it is troublesome to perform this operation every time, the second and subsequent connections can be easily established by remembering the SSID and password once connected so that they can be omitted.

  However, when connecting for the first time, authentication means (pairing) is required to allow the user to check whether or not the mobile phone and the digital camera connected to the wireless LAN can be connected to each other. However, if a connection can be established simply by participating in a wireless LAN network, there arises a problem that an unintended digital camera and a mobile phone are connected. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to perform authentication (pairing) for connection with the mobile phone and / or the digital camera for the first connection.

  In the case where the above-described authentication process is used, it is assumed that another new digital camera is to participate in a wireless LAN network in which a digital camera and a mobile phone once authenticated are connected and connected to the mobile phone. However, if there is a digital camera that has been authenticated once, it is preferentially connected, and it is difficult to connect the new digital camera and the mobile phone. Further, as a precondition described above, it is assumed that the mobile phone is a system that can be connected to only one digital camera.

  If there is a digital camera that has already been authenticated like this time, and you want to connect a new digital camera that has not been authenticated (unpaired) to a mobile phone, the authenticated digital camera will be connected preferentially. There is a problem that it becomes impossible to connect.

  With respect to such a problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a patent for pairing with a wireless device that requires a corresponding function, and the pairing process itself is common in the present invention.

  However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 does not display even if the services are the same for different functions, and cannot solve the problem that occurs even if the functions are the same as in this case.

  Also, in Patent Document 2, a UUID that can be updated at regular intervals against the problem that multiple users make authentication requests (pairing requests) and a pair different from the user's intention is created. It is a feature to list only those that match in combination.

  However, it is necessary to enumerate paired devices as a means for solving this problem, and complexity remains as a method for solving this problem.

JP 2013-172259 A JP 2010-114727 A

  The object of the present invention is to enumerate and pair only digital cameras that have not been paired (unpaired digital cameras), and once paired digital cameras (paired digital cameras) It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile phone connection method that can be easily connected without user operation.

  At this time, when a plurality of digital cameras exist in the same wireless LAN network, if there are unpaired digital cameras and paired digital cameras, the paired digital cameras are preferentially connected. It will be like that.

In order to achieve the above object, the mobile phone connection method of the present invention comprises:
There are communication means that can communicate with mobile phones
There is a way to keep unique identification information,
An imaging device having an imaging function;
There is a communication means capable of communicating with the imaging device,
There is a way to keep unique identification information,
There is a display means that can prompt whether to connect to the imaging device,
In the connection method in a mobile phone having a call function, which can have means for holding identification information of the imaging device, once connected with the imaging device,
If the mobile phone does not hold the identification information of the imaging device to be connected, it displays on the display means whether or not it can be connected before connecting to the imaging device, and in the meantime, the identification information of the imaging device to be connected It is characterized by making it stand by without connecting with another imaging device holding
When connecting to an imaging device that does not hold identification information, it connects to that, and when not connecting to an imaging device that does not hold identification information, it connects to another imaging device.

  According to the mobile phone connection method of the present invention, when connecting a digital camera to a mobile phone, even when connecting to an unpaired digital camera, even if the paired digital camera is on the same network. You will be able to proceed with the connection without losing the opportunity.

It is a hardware block diagram which shows the structure of the digital camera 100 in 1st Embodiment. It is a hardware block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile telephone 200 in 1st Embodiment. It is a system configuration figure in a 1st embodiment. It is GUI of the example of an unpairing dialog in 1st Embodiment. 1 is a flowchart of a digital camera 100 and a mobile phone 200 in the first embodiment.

  EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, the form for implementing this invention is demonstrated in detail using attached drawing. The embodiment described below is an example as means for realizing the present invention, and may be appropriately modified or changed depending on the configuration of the apparatus to which the present invention is applied and various conditions. Moreover, it is also possible to combine each embodiment suitably.

[First Embodiment]
<Configuration of digital camera>
FIG. 1A is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating a configuration example of a digital camera 100 that is an example of a communication apparatus according to the present embodiment. Although a digital camera is described here as an example of a communication device, the communication device is not limited to this. For example, the communication device may be an information processing device such as a portable media player, a so-called tablet device, or a personal computer.

  The control unit 101 controls each unit of the digital camera 100 according to an input signal and a program described later. Note that instead of the control unit 101 controlling the entire apparatus, a plurality of hardware may share the processing to control the entire apparatus.

  The imaging unit 102 includes, for example, an optical lens unit, an optical system that controls the aperture, zoom, focus, and the like, and an imaging device that converts light (video) introduced through the optical lens unit into an electrical video signal. Composed. In general, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) or a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is used as the imaging element. The imaging unit 102 is controlled by the control unit 101 to convert subject light imaged by a lens included in the imaging unit 102 into an electrical signal by the imaging device, and perform noise reduction processing or the like to convert the digital data into an image. Output as data. In the digital camera 100 of the present embodiment, the image data is recorded on the recording medium 110 in accordance with the DCF (Design Rule for Camera File System) standard.

  The non-volatile memory 103 is an electrically erasable / recordable non-volatile memory, and stores a program to be described later executed by the control unit 101. The work memory 104 is used as a buffer memory that temporarily holds image data picked up by the image pickup unit 102, an image display memory of the display unit 106, a work area of the control unit 101, and the like.

  The operation unit 105 is used for the user to accept an instruction for the digital camera 100 from the user. The operation unit 105 includes, for example, a power button for instructing the user to turn on / off the digital camera 100, a release switch for instructing photographing, and a reproduction button for instructing reproduction of image data. Furthermore, an operation member such as a dedicated connection button for starting communication with an external device via the communication unit 111 described later is included. A touch panel formed on the display unit 106 described later is also included in the operation unit 105. The release switch has SW1 and SW2.

  When the release switch is in a so-called half-pressed state, SW1 is turned on. As a result, an instruction for making preparations for shooting such as AF (autofocus) processing, AE (automatic exposure) processing, AWB (auto white balance) processing, and EF (flash pre-emission) processing is accepted. Further, when the release switch is in a fully-pressed state, SW2 is turned on. As a result, an instruction for photographing is received.

  The display unit 106 displays a viewfinder image at the time of shooting, displays shot image data, and displays characters for interactive operation. Note that the display unit 106 is not necessarily built in the digital camera 100. The digital camera 100 can be connected to an internal or external display unit 106 and only needs to have at least a display control function for controlling display on the display unit 106.

  The RTC 107 performs clock management. The time may be set by the user via the operation unit 105, or the time information may be acquired and set via the communication unit 111, or the time may be set by a radio clock. It is sufficient if the time can be managed.

  The recording medium 110 can record the image data output from the imaging unit 102. The recording medium 110 may be configured to be detachable from the digital camera 100 or may be built in the digital camera 100. That is, the digital camera 100 only needs to have a means for accessing at least the recording medium 110. The communication unit 111 is an interface for connecting to an external device. The digital camera 100 of this embodiment can exchange data with an external device via the communication unit 111. For example, image data generated by the imaging unit 102 can be transmitted to an external device via the communication unit 111.

  In the present embodiment, the communication unit 111 includes an interface for communicating with an external apparatus via a so-called wireless LAN in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 standard. The control unit 101 realizes wireless communication with an external device by controlling the communication unit 111. Note that the communication method is not limited to the wireless LAN, and includes, for example, an infrared communication method. The communication unit 111 is an example of a first wireless communication unit.

  Note that the communication unit 111 of the digital camera 100 in this embodiment has an AP mode that operates as an access point in the infrastructure mode, and a CL mode that operates as a client in the infrastructure mode. Then, by operating the communication unit 111 in the CL mode, the digital camera 100 in the present embodiment can operate as a CL device in the infrastructure mode. When the digital camera 100 operates as a CL device, it can participate in a network formed by the AP device by connecting to a peripheral AP device.

  In addition, by operating the communication unit 111 in the AP mode, the digital camera 100 according to the present embodiment is a kind of AP, but operates as a simple AP (hereinafter referred to as a simple AP) with more limited functions. Is also possible. When the digital camera 100 operates as a simple AP, the digital camera 100 forms a network by itself. Devices around the digital camera 100 can recognize the digital camera 100 as an AP device and participate in a network formed by the digital camera 100. It is assumed that a program for operating the digital camera 100 is held in the nonvolatile memory 103 as described above.

  Note that although the digital camera 100 in this embodiment is a kind of AP, it is a simple AP that does not have a gateway function for transferring data received from a CL device to an Internet provider or the like. Therefore, even if data is received from another device participating in the network formed by the own device, it cannot be transferred to a network such as the Internet.

  Next, the appearance of the digital camera 100 will be described. 1B and 1C are diagrams illustrating an example of the appearance of the digital camera 100. FIG. The release switch 105a, the playback button 105b, the direction key 105c, and the touch panel 105d are operation members included in the operation unit 105 described above. Further, the display unit 106 displays an image obtained as a result of imaging by the imaging unit 102. In addition, the digital camera 100 of the present embodiment has an antenna portion of the power feeding unit 112 on the side surface of the camera housing. Power feeding can be performed by bringing the power feeding sections 112 closer to each other. Thereby, it is possible to supply power in a non-contact manner without using a cable or the like, and the start and end of power supply can be controlled. The above is the description of the digital camera 100.

<Internal configuration of mobile phone 200>
FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating a configuration example of the mobile phone 200 which is an example of the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment. Although a mobile phone is described here as an example of the information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus is not limited to this. For example, the information processing apparatus may be a digital camera with a wireless function, a tablet device, or a personal computer.

  The control unit 201 controls each unit of the mobile phone 200 according to an input signal and a program described later. Note that instead of the control unit 201 controlling the entire apparatus, the entire apparatus may be controlled by a plurality of pieces of hardware sharing the processing. The imaging unit 202 converts subject light imaged by a lens included in the imaging unit 202 into an electrical signal, performs noise reduction processing, and outputs digital data as image data. The captured image data is stored in the buffer memory, and then a predetermined calculation is performed by the control unit 201 and recorded on the recording medium 210.

  The nonvolatile memory 203 is an electrically erasable / recordable nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory 203 stores an OS (operating system) that is basic software executed by the control unit 201 and an application that realizes an applied function in cooperation with the OS. In the present embodiment, the nonvolatile memory 203 stores an application (hereinafter referred to as an application) for communicating with the digital camera 100. The work memory 204 is used as an image display memory of the display unit 206, a work area of the control unit 201, and the like.

  The operation unit 205 is used to receive an instruction for the mobile phone 200 from the user. The operation unit 205 includes, for example, operation members such as a power button for the user to instruct ON / OFF of the power supply of the mobile phone 200 and a touch panel formed on the display unit 206. The display unit 206 displays image data, characters for interactive operation, and the like. Note that the display unit 206 is not necessarily provided in the mobile phone 200. The mobile phone 200 can be connected to the display unit 206 and has at least a display control function for controlling the display of the display unit 206.

  The recording medium 210 can record image data output from the imaging unit 202. The recording medium 210 may be configured to be detachable from the mobile phone 200 or may be built in the mobile phone 200. That is, the mobile phone 200 only needs to have at least a means for accessing the recording medium 210.

  The communication unit 211 is an interface for connecting to an external device. The mobile phone 200 of this embodiment can exchange data with the digital camera 100 via the communication unit 211. In the present embodiment, the communication unit 211 is an antenna, and the control unit 101 can be connected to the digital camera 100 via the antenna. In connection with the digital camera 100, it may be connected directly or via an access point. As a protocol for communicating data, for example, PTP / IP (Picture Transfer Protocol over Internet Protocol) through a wireless LAN can be used.

  Note that communication with the digital camera 100 is not limited to this. For example, the communication unit 211 can include an infrared communication module, a Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication module, and a wireless communication module such as WirelessUSB. Furthermore, a wired connection such as a USB cable, HDMI (registered trademark), or IEEE1394 may be employed.

The public network connection unit 213 is an interface used when performing public wireless communication. The mobile phone 200 can talk with other devices via the public network connection unit 213. At this time, the control unit 201 inputs and outputs an audio signal via the microphone 214 and the speaker 215, thereby realizing a call. In the present embodiment, the public network connection unit 213 is an antenna, and the control unit 101 can be connected to the public network via the antenna.
Note that the communication unit 211 and the public network connection unit 213 can be shared by a single antenna.

  The microphone 214 is an interface for notifying the control unit of user's utterance information. The control unit 201 converts voice data into digital data and communicates it to the public network connection unit 213, so that call information can be transmitted to the other mobile phone 200.

  In contrast to the microphone 214, the speaker 215 is an interface capable of converting the communicated information obtained from the public network connection unit 213 into audio analog information through the control unit 201 and transmitting the audio to the user through the speaker 215. is there. This makes it possible to receive call information with another mobile phone 200. The speaker 215 converts not only the call information but also, for example, audio data stored in the storage medium 210 or video data information, and converts the audio signal from the control unit 201 to output the audio through the speaker 215. Is possible. The above is the description of the mobile phone 200.

<System configuration diagram>
Next, a system configuration diagram in the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram in the case where a problem occurs in this patent in the connection system between the digital camera 100 and the mobile phone 200. The network 300 is a wireless LAN network, and this network is assumed to be an infrastructure mode network created by an access point. At this time, the mobile phone 200 participates in this network, the digital camera 100-a that has never been connected to the mobile phone 200 in the past, and the digital camera that has been connected to the mobile phone 200 in the past. Assume that there is 100-b.

  At this time, when the mobile phone 200 searches for the digital camera 100 via the communication unit 211, the digital camera 100-a and the digital camera 100-b can be found. Normally, since the digital camera 100-b has been connected in the past, the authentication process is omitted, and the digital camera 100-b and the mobile phone 200 can enter a sequence for establishing a connection. Then, there is a problem that the digital camera 100-a has no opportunity to connect to the mobile phone 200.

<GUI of the unpaired dialog example>
Next, a GUI of an example of an unpaired dialog will be described in the GUI displayed on the display unit 106 of the mobile phone 200 in the first embodiment. In FIG. 3, when the digital camera 100-b does not exist, the mobile phone 200 discovers only the digital camera 100-a via the communication unit 211, and the control unit 201 detects the work memory 204. The GUI displayed on the display unit 206 in accordance with the execution program expanded in FIG. The GUI 400 shows the entire unpaired dialog.

  A GUI 401 is a text control for explaining the GUI 400. In the present embodiment, “Please select a digital camera to connect” is displayed and prompts the user of the mobile phone 200 to select a digital camera to be connected. A GUI 402 is a list control that displays a list of a list of digital cameras designated by the GUI 401. Here, only unpaired digital cameras are listed. A GUI 403 shows an example in which the second digital camera is selected from the digital cameras listed in the GUI 402. If it is selected, the GUI 400 is closed.

A GUI 404 is a button for closing the dialog of the GUI 400. When the GUI 403 is pressed when the digital camera is not selected by the GUI 403, it indicates that no unpaired digital camera has been paired.
4 can enumerate unpaired digital cameras, and the user of the mobile phone 200 can pair with the digital cameras. Alternatively, it can be terminated without pairing.

<Flowchart>
Next, flowcharts of the digital camera 100, the mobile phone 200, and the server 300 in the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 5A shows a flowchart of the mobile phone 200. The flowchart in FIG. 5A is a flowchart for the mobile phone 200 to search for the digital camera 100 and display and connect to the unpaired dialog GUI as shown in FIG. A flow 500 indicates the start of this flowchart.

  In flow 501, the control unit 201 of the mobile phone 200 searches whether the digital camera 100 exists in the network 300 via the communication unit 211. Specifically, a device having a service unique to the digital camera is searched using a discovery protocol using UPnP (Universal Plug and Play). Subsequently, the process proceeds to a flow 502.

  In flow 502, the control unit 201 makes an inquiry to the communication unit 211 to determine whether a digital camera has been found. If not found, the process proceeds to the flow 502. Here, a diagram of transition to the flow 502 is described, but either of the flows that are searched again in the flow 501 may be used. If found, the process proceeds to the flow 503. Here, it is assumed that one digital camera has been found.

  In flow 503, the control unit 201 determines whether the discovered digital camera is an unpaired camera or a paired digital camera. Specifically, the control unit 201 refers to identification information unique to the digital camera in the information of the digital camera obtained through the communication unit 211, and works according to a program stored in the work memory. A list of unique identification information in a list of digital cameras that have been connected in the past in the memory is referred to. The identification information of the digital camera discovered this time is compared with the list of unique identification information described above to determine whether there is a match. If the two match, the control unit 201 determines that the digital camera has been paired, and the process proceeds to the flow 506. If there is no match, it is determined that the digital camera is not paired, and the flow proceeds to the flow 504.

  In flow 504, the control unit 201 instructs the display unit 106 to display an unpaired dialog GUI that is the GUI 400 of FIG. 4. After that, the process proceeds to the flow 505.

  A flow 505 determines whether or not the user of the mobile phone 200 performs an operation in accordance with a GUI instruction displayed on the display unit 106 and the control unit 201 has paired with an unpaired digital camera. Specifically, when the user of the mobile phone 200 selects an unpaired digital camera as in the GUI 403, the process proceeds to the flow 506. Alternatively, when the user of the mobile phone 200 closes the GUI without selecting an unpaired digital camera as in the GUI 404, the process proceeds to the flow 502. Flow 506 establishes a connection with the discovered digital camera. Specifically, the control unit 201 establishes communication by performing PTP communication via the communication unit 211. Then, the process proceeds to the flow 507. A flow 507 indicates the end of the flowchart.

  In this flowchart, it is described that the flow transitions to the flow 502 when it is determined in the flow 505 that pairing with an unpaired camera is not performed. However, there is a possibility that the same camera is found after that. Then, the same unpaired dialog GUI 400 may be displayed many times, but in order to avoid this, the identification information of the digital camera once discovered is temporarily used as a condition for displaying the GUI 400. If the problem is found again, the problem can be solved by controlling not to display the second and subsequent times.

  Next, the flowchart (b) in FIG. 5 will be described. The flowchart (b) is a flowchart of the digital camera 100, and both the digital camera 100-a and the digital camera 100-b have the same flow. A flow 510 indicates the start of this flowchart. In flow 511, the control unit 101 of the digital camera 100 participates in the network 300 via the communication unit 111, and broadcasts or multicasts that the digital camera 100 has appeared. Specifically, the control unit 101 uses UPnP to perform an advertising message or a response message for a search request. After that, the process proceeds to the flow 512.

  A flow 512 determines whether the control unit 101 has found the mobile phone 200 via the communication unit 111. When it is found that the mobile phone 200 is participating in the network 300, the process proceeds to the flow 513. If it is not known, the process proceeds to the flow 512. Specifically, it is determined whether there is an advertising message from the communication unit 211 of the mobile phone 200, but this flow is not an important flow.

  In flow 513, the control unit 101 waits until there is a connection request from the communication unit 211 of the mobile phone 200 to the communication unit 111. Specifically, until the flow 506 is performed, the mobile phone 200 has to wait for time because there is a possibility that a user operation is performed. In the case of the paired digital camera 100-b, since no user operation is performed, the waiting time in the flow 513 may be almost negligible. On the other hand, in the case of the unpaired digital camera 100-a, the user operation for the authentication work is required because of the flow 504, so that the digital camera 100-a stands by. When the connection is completed, the process proceeds to the flow 514. A flow 514 indicates the end of the flowchart.

  By realizing the flowchart of FIG. 5, it becomes possible to display the unpaired digital camera 100-a without losing the connection opportunity with respect to the problems that may occur in FIG. 3.

100 digital camera, 101 control unit, 102 imaging unit

Claims (2)

There are communication means that can communicate with mobile phones,
There is a way to keep unique identification information,
An imaging device having an imaging function;
There is a communication means capable of communicating with the imaging device,
There is a way to keep unique identification information,
There is a display means that can prompt whether to connect to the imaging device,
In the connection method in a mobile phone having a call function, which can have means for holding identification information of the imaging device, once connected with the imaging device,
If the mobile phone does not hold the identification information of the imaging device to be connected, it displays on the display means whether or not it can be connected before connecting to the imaging device, and in the meantime, the identification information of the imaging device to be connected It is characterized by making it stand by without connecting with another imaging device holding
When connecting to an imaging device that does not hold identification information, connect to it, and when not connecting to an imaging device that does not hold identification information, connect to another imaging device. Method. There are communication means that can communicate with mobile phones,
There is a way to keep unique identification information,
An imaging device having an imaging function;
There is a communication means capable of communicating with the imaging device,
There is a way to keep unique identification information,
There is a display means that can prompt whether to connect to the imaging device,
In the connection method in a mobile phone having a call function, which can have means for holding identification information of the imaging device, once connected with the imaging device,
If the mobile phone does not hold the identification information of the imaging device to be connected, it displays on the display means whether or not it can be connected before connecting to the imaging device, and in the meantime, the identification information of the imaging device to be connected It is characterized by making it stand by without connecting with another imaging device holding
A mobile phone that is connected to an imaging device that does not hold identification information, and is connected to another imaging device when it is connected to an imaging device that does not hold identification information.