JPH06268907A - Electronic image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide an electronic imaging device capable of freely selecting a title without complicated operations and obtaining an image obtained by combining the title and a subject image. [Structure] An area designating unit 351 sends only data in a designated area designated in advance to a zoom processing circuit 352. When the zoom processing circuit 352 sequentially zooms the data in the designated area, the title image data storage unit 36
0 stores the title image data in the designated area which has been subjected to the zoom processing. When image pickup of a subject to be combined with the stored title image is started, the title image data is transferred from the title image data storage unit 360 to the combined format data storage unit 358, and image data is assembled in advance. Then, the image data is read from the combined format data storage unit 358, combined with the image data captured by the image data buffer 354, transferred to the print data processing unit 340, and sequentially printed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic image pickup apparatus for synthesizing a captured subject image and a title image and recording them on a recording medium such as thermal paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional electronic image pickup apparatus, a subject image is formed by an optical system, the formed subject image is picked up by an image sensor, and the subject image picked up by the image sensor is made of thermal paper or the like. What is printed on a recording medium is known. In addition, this electronic imaging device,
A plurality of patterns of titles are stored, or a plurality of keys for inputting title characters are provided. When a title is combined with the subject image, one of a plurality of patterns is selected in advance or an arbitrary title sentence is created by key operation and stored in advance. By performing imaging in this state, the captured subject image and a title selected in advance or created by key operation are combined, and the combined image is printed on thermal paper and output.

[0003]

However, if the titles of a plurality of patterns are stored in advance like the former and any one of them is selected and used, the title to be used is naturally limited, and the title can be freely used. I cannot select a title and get an image that combines them. Also, in the latter case where the title sentence is input by key operation, it is possible to freely create a title and synthesize it, but on the other hand, the characters that make up the title must be input by key operation. Since it has to be done, the operation becomes complicated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic image pickup apparatus capable of freely selecting a title and obtaining an image obtained by combining the title with a subject image without complicating the operation.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, an image of a formed object image is taken and
An image pickup unit that outputs line-by-line image data, a storage unit that stores the image data output by the image pickup unit, an image data stored in the storage unit, and an image data that the image pickup unit newly outputs. It has an image synthesizing means for synthesizing and a recording means for recording the image synthesized by the image synthesizing means on a recording medium.

Further, according to the present invention, an area designating means for designating an arbitrary area of the formed subject image, and a primary image pickup for picking up a subject image in the area designated by the area designating means. Means, a storage means for storing a subject image in the area imaged by the primary imaging means, a secondary imaging means for capturing the formed subject image, and an image captured by the secondary imaging means. It has an image synthesizing means for synthesizing the subject image to be stored with the subject image stored in the storage means, and a recording means for recording the image synthesized by the image synthesizing means on a recording medium.

[0007]

In the above structure, when the image of the subject as the title is picked up by the image pickup means, the image of the subject as the title is stored in the storage means. Next, when a desired subject is imaged again by the image pickup means, the imaged image and the image serving as the title stored in advance are combined by the image combining means, and the combined image is a recording medium such as thermal paper. Recorded in.

Further, when a subject to be a title is imaged, if an arbitrary region of the subject image is designated by the area designating means, the image in the designated region is imaged by the primary imaging means and stored. Stored in the means. Next, when the secondary image pickup means picks up the subject image, the image synthesizing means synthesizes the subject image picked up by the secondary image pickup means and the image of the title stored in the storage means, and synthesizes this. The recorded image is recorded on a recording medium such as thermal paper by the recording means.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. That is, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the electronic image pickup apparatus according to the present embodiment, in which a line sensor 3 in which CCDs are vertically arranged behind the lens 12 is shown.
0 is movably arranged, and the line sensor 30 reads an image for one screen by moving the image forming surface of the lens 12 in the horizontal direction (the direction of the arrow). That is, the line sensor 30 is, for example, 1760 arranged vertically.
The dot / line CCD scans the image plane in the vertical direction to output an image signal for one line, and sequentially outputs the image signal for each vertical scanning line as the image signal moves in the horizontal direction.

The image signal output from the line sensor 30 is amplified by the preamplifier 31, the gain is adjusted to be constant by the AGC amplifier 32, and the edge enhancement is corrected. The image signal output from the AGC amplifier 32 is processed by the shading correction circuit 33 to correct the brightness of the central portion and the peripheral portion of the image, and then binarized by the binarizing circuit 34 and binarized. The binarized image signal is input to the image data processing circuit 35. The details of the image data processing circuit 35 will be described later.

The controller 36 controls the entire system, and operation information of various keys such as a title image storage key and an area designating key is input from the key input unit 29. Then, the controller 36, based on the input operation information, etc., the AGC amplifier 32, the binarization circuit 3
4. Controls the image data processing circuit 35, and also controls the thermal head control unit 37, the motor control circuit 38, and the LCD drive circuit 11. The all-transmissive LCD 14 is arranged so as to overlap a focus screen (not shown) on which an image is formed when the image is not picked up, and specifies the area of the image formed on the focus screen. Motor control circuit 3
8 is a CC for driving the line sensor 30 in the horizontal direction.
The D moving motor 39 and the lens 12 for adjusting the focus.
A lens moving motor 40 for driving the lens in the optical axis direction, and a feed motor 41 for rotatively driving a roller of a printer described later are controlled. The motor control circuit 38 is a CCD
Drive pulse for transmitting electric charge to the line sensor 30
Output to.

Further, the thermal head controller 37 is
The thermal head drive unit 42 is controlled based on the position control signal output from the controller 36, the combined data output from the image data processing circuit 35, and the like. The thermal head drive unit 42 operates according to an input control signal or the like, so that the line sensor 30 horizontally moves the image forming surface of the lens 12 to the thermal paper P set in the printer 23. An image for one screen is thermally transferred when it is moved.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of the image data processing circuit 35. The area designating unit 351 is supplied with an area designating signal from the controller 36 in response to the operation of the area designating key input from the key input portion 29. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, by operating the area designation key while looking into the viewfinder 2 provided in the image pickup apparatus main body 1, the area bar 3 displayed in the viewfinder 2 moves, An image area surrounded by the area bar 3 can be designated. Then, the area designating unit 351 distinguishes the image data in the designated area from the data outside the designated area, and sends only the data in the designated area to the zoom processing circuit 352.

The zoom processing circuit 352 is connected to the controller 3
According to the instruction from 6, the image data in the designated area is enlarged. The enlarged image data is input to the block selection circuit 353 and the title image data storage unit 360. The block selection circuit 353 is connected to the controller 36 via a data and address bus, and also has a title image data storage unit 360, a format data storage unit 356, a key input data storage unit 357, and a combined format data storage unit 358. The data transfer control unit 355 is also connected.

The format data storage unit 356 is a ROM
A plurality of formats including frame data corresponding to image data obtained from a subject and fixed format data such as a title column set in a part thereof are stored. The key input data storage unit 357 is composed of a RAM, and stores key input data such as titles and document names transferred from an external information device through the data transfer unit 355. The title image data storage unit 360 also comprises a RAM and stores the image data in the designated area transferred to the zoom processing circuit 352.

The combined format data storage unit 358 is composed of a RAM, and when the combination mode is set, the format data selected and extracted from the format data storage unit 356 and the title image data read from the title image data storage unit 360, or The key input data read from the key input data storage unit 357 is combined and stored. The image data buffer 354 is composed of 11 line buffers of line 1 to line 11 (1760 bits = 220 bytes), and a block selection circuit 359 is also provided at the output stage of this line buffer.

Here, the line 1 of the image data buffer 354 is a buffer for composition, and the zoom processing circuit 352.
When the image data is supplied from, the block selection circuit 353 selects the line 1 and the line 1 stores the image data for one line. The image data for 10 lines read from the combined format data storage unit 358 is stored in line 2 to line 11 selected by the block selection circuit 353 one by one.

When one line of image data is stored in the line 1, the block selection circuit 359 provided in the output stage first selects the line 2 and inputs the image data stored in the line 2. It is transferred to the block selection circuit 353 of the stage. Then, the block selection circuit 35
3 selects line 1 and stores image data in line 1. The image data and the image data for one line stored in the line 1 are combined by 1 byte, and the combined data obtained by combining the image data and the image data is sent to the print data processing unit 340 via the block selection circuit 359. Supplied.

The print data processing unit 340 uses 1 byte.
220 by for one line of composite data transferred by e
It is converted into serial data of te and transferred to the thermal head controller 37. The thermal head controller 37
The thermal head drive unit 42 is controlled based on the printer head control signal input from the controller 36, the composite data, etc., and the thermal head drive unit 42 operates according to the input signal, etc. , 1-line printing is performed by the 1-line combined data combined in line 1.

When the next line of image data is stored in line 1 of the image data buffer 354, the block selecting circuit 359 at the output stage selects line 3 and the line 3 is stored. The image data is transferred to the line 1 and is combined with the image data on the line 1 in the same manner as described above, and then output from the print data processing unit 340. Similarly, one line of image data sequentially stored in line 1 and the image data of lines 4, 5, ... 11 are combined and printed line by line. Then, when the composition of the image data stored in the lines 2 to 11 is completed, the image data for the next 10 lines is merged with the format data storage unit 35.
8 is stored in lines 2 to 11 selected by the input stage block selection circuit 353, and the synthesis is performed line by line in the same manner.

In the present embodiment having the above-described structure, when title composition is performed, as shown in FIG. 3, the image pickup apparatus main body 1 is arranged in a state in which the subject H to be used as a title can be imaged. , While looking through the viewfinder 2, operate the area designation key. As a result, the area bar 3 displayed in the viewfinder 2 moves, and the area bar 3 designates an arbitrary image area. When the title image storage key is operated in this state, the controller 36 operates according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 to specify the area of the title image to specify the area surrounded by the area bar 3 (SA
1).

Next, the title image is picked up (SA
2) When the image pickup of this title image is started, the line sensor 30 is activated to output the image data of one vertical line on the image forming plane of the lens 12. The image data for one line is input to the image data processing circuit 35 via the preamplifier 31, the AGC amplifier 32, the shading correction circuit 33, and the binarization circuit 34. Area designating unit 351 provided in the image data processing circuit 35
Distinguishes the image data in the designated area from the data outside the designated area, and sends only the data in the designated area to the zoom processing circuit 352. Then, the zoom processing circuit 352
However, when the data in the designated area is sequentially zoomed, the title image data storage unit 360 stores the title image data in the designated area that has been zoomed (SA).
3).

Next, when the image pickup of the subject to be combined with the imaged title image is started, the controller 36 causes the controller 36 of FIG.
The operation is performed according to the flow chart shown in (1), and it is determined whether or not the format combination should be performed based on the operation mode currently set (SB1). If the currently set mode is the normal print mode, since the format combination is not performed, the normal print is executed without performing the processing of SB2 and thereafter. When this normal printing is started, the line sensor 30 is activated to output the image data of one vertical line on the image forming surface of the lens 12. This one
The image data for the lines includes the preamplifier 31, the AGC amplifier 32, the shading correction circuit 33, and the binarization circuit 3.
It is input to the image data processing circuit 35 via the No. 4.

The image data processing circuit 35 does not perform the combining process in the normal printing mode, but only performs the enlarging process of the image data of the subject and outputs it to the serial. Then, the thermal head control unit 37 controls the thermal head drive unit 42 based on the position control signal output from the controller 36 and the serial image data output from the image data processing circuit 35. ,
By operating in accordance with an input signal or the like, an image for one screen when the line sensor 30 moves in the horizontal direction is thermally transferred onto the thermal paper P that is driven to be fed.

On the other hand, when the combination mode for performing the format combination is set, the process proceeds from SB1 to SB2,
In order to perform format combination, font data is transferred from the format data storage unit 356 and title image data is transferred from the title image data storage unit 360 to the combined format data storage unit 358 to assemble image data in advance (SB2). Further, the image data for 10 lines is read from the combined format data storage unit 358 and transferred to lines 2 to 11 of the image data buffer 354 (SB3).

Subsequently, the image data from the binarization circuit 34 is controlled by the sampling clock, and 1 is set for every 8 bits.
The bits are deleted and the image data for one line is transferred to the line 1 of the image data buffer 354 (SB4). That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the CC sent to the image data buffer 354 at the timing of the sampling clock.
Of the image data for one line composed of D cell numbers 0, 1, 2, ..., The image data of CCD photocell numbers 7, 15 ,. To delete. Therefore, in the image data buffer 354, the data of one line in which the data of the CCD cell numbers 7, 15 ... Are deleted as shown in the figure "0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 ... .. 13,
"14, 16 ..." is sent. Therefore, the captured image of the subject is deleted by 1 bit for every 8 bits in each vertical line, so that the 1
Lines are thinned out. As a result, the subject image is reduced in the vertical direction, and a blank area is generated in the entire image before reduction.

Next, one line of image data forming a title is transferred to "line 1" from a predetermined line of lines 2 to 10 of the image data buffer 354 and is combined (SB5). Further, from line 1 of the image data buffer 354, data for one line (combined data) is transferred to the printer 23 and printed (S).
B6). Then, line 1 of the image data buffer 354
Up to 1, it is determined whether the above processing has been executed (SB
7), SB4 to SB7 until the processing of line 11 is completed
Repeat the loop.

Therefore, the loop of SB4 to SB7 is repeated 10 times until the processing of the line 11 is completed, whereby the printing based on the combined data of 10 lines is completed. Then, when the printing based on the combined data for 10 lines is completed in this way, it is determined whether or not the above processing has been executed up to the final line of all image data (SB.
9). If the processing up to the final line has not been completed, the processing from SB3 is executed to newly read 1
Image data for 0 lines is combined with image data, and printing is executed based on this combined data.

Then, the data read on the lines 2 to 10 becomes the final line of the image data SB.
When the determination result in 8 is YES, printing for one screen is completed. Therefore, by combining the title image data in the blank area for each line, the thermal paper P
It is possible to form a print image including a vertically reduced subject and a title image printed on the subject. Moreover, if about 1 bit is deleted for every 8 bits, there is almost no difference in appearance between the subject image and the subject portion of the print image, so that the necessary portion of the subject image is not deleted.

In the present embodiment, the title image is combined with the upper part of the subject image, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the title image can be combined with other parts such as the central part of the subject image. is there.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, a subject image is captured and stored, and the stored subject image and the captured subject image are combined and recorded on a recording medium. I decided to do it. Therefore, by capturing and storing an arbitrary subject image that can be a title in advance, it is possible to freely select a title and obtain an image in which the titles are combined. Moreover, since the key operation for inputting the characters forming the title is not necessary, it is possible to obtain the composite image having the freely selected title without the complexity of the operation. In addition, since the subject image in the area designated area is stored, only the optimum part that can be used as the title of the subject image can be extracted and combined, and a composite image having the optimum title can be obtained. Obtainable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an electronic image pickup device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of an image data processing circuit in the block diagram.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of the electronic image pickup apparatus during image pickup and a state in a viewfinder.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a title processing operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation from image combining processing to printing in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a data transfer timing chart of the image data processing circuit in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 23 printer 30 line sensor 34 binarization circuit 35 image data processing circuit 354 image data buffer 356 format data storage unit 357 key input data storage unit 358 combined format data storage unit 360 title image data storage unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means for picking up a formed subject image and outputting it as image data line by line, a storage means for storing the image data output by the image pickup means, and a storage means stored in the storage means. An electronic device comprising: an image synthesizing unit for sequentially synthesizing the image data and the image data newly output by the image pickup unit; and a recording unit for recording the image synthesized by the image synthesizing unit on a recording medium. Imaging device. 2. An area designating means for designating an arbitrary area of the formed subject image, a primary imaging means for capturing a subject image in the area designated by the area designating means, and the primary imaging means. Storage means for storing the subject image in the area captured by the image capturing means, secondary image capturing means for capturing the formed subject image, subject image captured by the secondary image capturing means, and the storage means An electronic image pickup device comprising: an image synthesizing unit for synthesizing the subject image stored in the storage unit; and a recording unit for recording the image synthesized by the image synthesizing unit on a recording medium. 3. The image pickup unit picks up the subject image and outputs image data line by line, and the image combining unit stores the image data output line by line and the storage unit. The electronic image pickup apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image data of the subject image is combined line by line and output.