JP2006254127A - Image recording device, and image display method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and a display method in which a user can intuitively grasp how large a size of an photographed image is, since an image browsing frequency on user's PC is high in an image recording device and to provide an image display method. <P>SOLUTION: It becomes possible to intuitively obtain how large the size of the photographed image is, against a desktop screen size of the PC by displaying a desktop screen size 402 of the PC and the photographed image size by an OSD (On Screen Device) on a display means of the image recording device, and notifying the user how large the image is displayed when the photographed image is reproduced on the PC. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and an image display method, and more particularly to an image recording apparatus and an image display method such as an electronic camera having an image size display means for displaying the size of a captured image.

  In recent years, electronic cameras have been widely used. The reason why electronic cameras have become so popular is thought to be due to the significant price reduction due to the increase in shipments, but the biggest difference from film cameras is that no film is required. Is mentioned. Once you purchase a memory card with a certain amount of capacity, you can copy the image to a PC (Personal Computer), format the card, and use the memory card over and over again, and your favorite subject without worrying about running costs Can be taken one after another, and it is considered that the number of shots per use is also increasing compared to film cameras. Because of these backgrounds, many images are taken with an electronic camera. However, because of the cost, the shot images can only be taken out for development or printed out, especially for images that you like. An image is often stored on a hard disk of a PC and viewed on application software of the PC.

  Most electronic cameras can adjust the size of an image to be taken in several steps. For example, when the number of pixels of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is 3 million pixels, photographic image sizes such as 2048 × 1536 (3.14 million pixels), 1280 × 960 (1.22 million pixels), and 640 × 480 (300,000 pixels) are prepared. Has been. This is because the capacity of the memory card used in the image recording device is limited, and if you shoot with the image size maximized, the amount of image data will increase, and only a few images may be taken. The number of shots can be increased.

  In this way, the number of pixels of the photographed image can be changed by the electronic camera, but the number of pixels such as “2048 × 1536” is displayed on the display means of the image recording apparatus such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). However, it is difficult to grasp the size of the image intuitively.

For this reason, there has been proposed a method for displaying a print range when an image is printed on the display means of the image recording apparatus (Patent Document 1). In addition to displaying the number of pixels of the photographed image, it is possible to check the size of the printed image when it is printed out, so that it is possible to save labor such as printing mistakes and re-shooting.
JP 2002-94901 A

  However, it is considered that the user views images on a PC more frequently than printing, and an effective method for notifying the user in this case is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and in order to intuitively understand the size of the captured image with respect to the desktop screen size of the PC, An object is to display a desktop screen size and a captured image size with an OSD (On Screen Device) and notify the user of how large the captured image can be displayed when the captured image is reproduced on a PC.

  In order to achieve this object, the present invention has the following features.

  The invention described in claim 1 is an imaging unit that captures light from a subject, a photoelectric conversion unit that converts the captured light into an electrical signal, an image compression unit that compresses image information converted into the electrical signal, Display means for expanding and displaying the compressed image information, and the display means is an OSD (On Screen Display) indicating the size of the desktop of the PC when a captured image is displayed on a PC (Personal Computer). ) Is displayed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the first aspect, when the captured image is larger than a desktop size of the PC, the display means sets the desktop size of the PC from above the captured image to the OSD ( By displaying the desktop OSD), the photographer recognizes the size of the captured image.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the second aspect, when the photographer selects the resolution of the PC monitor used by the photographer, the size of the desktop OSD changes accordingly. To do.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the second aspect, the display means changes the size of the desktop OSD correspondingly when the photographing resolution of the image recording apparatus is changed. .

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the first aspect, the display means indicates a ratio between the desktop size of the PC and the captured image size when the captured image is smaller than the size of the desktop of the PC. The OSD is displayed.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the fifth aspect, when the display means selects the resolution of the PC monitor used by the photographer, the size of the OSD indicating the ratio changes correspondingly. It is characterized by.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the fifth aspect, when the photographing resolution of the image recording apparatus is changed, the display means also changes the size of the OSD indicating the ratio accordingly. To do.

  The invention according to claim 8 is an imaging process for capturing light from a subject, a photoelectric conversion process for converting the captured light into an electrical signal, an image compression process for compressing image information converted into the electrical signal, A display step of decompressing and displaying the compressed image information, and the display step includes an OSD (On Screen Display) indicating a size of a desktop of the PC when a captured image is displayed on a PC (Personal Computer). ) Is displayed.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the display method according to the eighth aspect, in the display step, when the captured image is larger than the size of the desktop of the PC, the desktop size of the PC is set above the captured image. The photographer recognizes the size of the photographed image by displaying the OSD (desktop OSD).

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the display method according to the ninth aspect, when the resolution of the PC monitor used by the photographer is selected, the display step changes the size of the desktop OSD accordingly. Features.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the display method according to the ninth aspect, when the photographing resolution of the image recording step is changed, the size of the desktop OSD changes correspondingly. To do.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the display method according to the eighth aspect, in the display step, when the captured image is smaller than the size of the desktop of the PC, a ratio between the desktop size of the PC and the captured image size is set. An OSD to be displayed is displayed.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the display method according to the twelfth aspect, when the photographer selects the resolution of the PC monitor used by the photographer, the size of the OSD indicating the ratio also changes correspondingly. It is characterized by.

  According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the display method according to the twelfth aspect, when the photographing resolution of the image recording apparatus is changed in the display step, the size of the OSD indicating the ratio changes correspondingly. And

  According to the present invention, a user can easily shoot a captured image size displayed on a PC (Personal Computer) by displaying a desktop OSD (On Screen Device) representing the size of the desktop screen of the PC on the display means. It is possible to notify that the size of the image is known.

  Hereinafter, an image recording apparatus and an image display method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an optical lens 101 can be moved by a lens motor 108 controlled by a motor driver 110, and optical zooming or focusing is performed by driving a plurality of optical lenses (not shown) by a lens motor 108, respectively. Can be combined. The subject image received from the optical lens 101 is adjusted in the amount of incident light by the shutter 102 operated by the shutter motor 109 and formed on the CCD 104 controlled by the CCD (Charge Coupled Device) driver 105 through the optical LPF 103.

  Here, when the light amount of the photographing subject is insufficient, the strobe 128 under the control of the strobe circuit 127 can be caused to emit light, and an image with an appropriate light amount can be taken.

  Charges are accumulated (photoelectric conversion) in the CCD 104 for the amount of time that the shutter 102 is open after the release 202 is pressed. The CCD 104 is composed of an infinite number of cells (pixels), and each pixel is provided with a condensing lens and a color filter. Depending on the type of color filter, the intensity of light of each color such as red, green and blue Is stored in each pixel. For example, a full color image can be created by converting the incident light amounts of the three primary colors of red, green, and blue into charges and reading the charge amounts.

  The accumulated charges are sequentially delivered from each pixel of the CCD 104 to the CDS: A / D 107 (chip in which CDS and A / D are integrated) using the clock of the timing generator 106, and to the CDS section (Correlated Double Sampling). The noise component is reduced, and the analog charge amount is converted into a digital signal by the A / D unit.

  The converted digital information of each pixel incident light amount is temporarily stored in an SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) 116 having a high writing speed, and sequentially transferred to an electronic camera ASSP (Application Specific Standard Products) 129, The image processor 130 in the electronic camera ASSP 129 performs processing such as white balance processing, edge enhancement, and image compression using a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) method.

  This electronic camera ASSP 129 is a standard IC (Integrated Circuit) for a specific application (electronic camera), and controls the entire camera, reads the software written in the flash memory 117, operates according to the instructions of the software, It plays the role of controlling various drivers that control the device, and uses the image processor 130, microcomputer 133, and various interfaces 134 built in itself to perform processing such as image processing, operation button control, and memory interface control. Is going.

  Image data subjected to various processes by the image processor 130 is stored in a nonvolatile memory 115 controlled by various interfaces 134. Today's image recording apparatuses are equipped with a smart media, a nonvolatile memory such as an SD (Secure Digital) card, and a card connector 135 into which a memory card 136 can be inserted.

  Further, the image data subjected to the various processes is converted into NTSC, PAL, or the like by the video encoder 132, passed through the video amplifier 120, and output from an AV (Audio Visual) Jack 121 to a TV or the like. Liquid crystal display (LCD) driver 122 performs signal conversion corresponding to the LCD display specifications, displays an image on LCD 123, or is converted to a differential signal by USB (Universal Serial Bus) driver 118, and is connected to USB connector 119 via a cable. The image data can also be transferred to a PC or the like.

  The power source of the image recording apparatus is supplied from an AC adapter inserted into the DC jack 111 or a battery 112, and a DC voltage (for example, 3.3V, 5V, -7.5V, etc.) required for each device by the DC / DC converter 113. ) And supply to each device.

  An audio CODEC (Coder DECorder) 126 is controlled by the electronic camera ASSP 129 and includes a microphone amplifier, a speaker amplifier, an A / D, a D / A converter 131, a code and a decoding processing unit, and an audio recorded by the microphone 125. Are amplified, A / D converted, and encoded, stored in the SDRAM 116, and sequentially recorded in the nonvolatile memory 115. When playing back sound, the sound digital data is read from the nonvolatile memory 115 to the SDRAM 116, sequentially decoded by the sound CODEC 126, D / A converted, and amplified, and then output by the speaker 124.

  The digital camera ASSP 129 is also equipped with an operation button 114.

  FIG. 2 is an external view (front surface portion) of the electronic camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  In addition to the microphone 125 and the strobe 128, a strobe dimming sensor, a finder 203, and a lens barrel 205 are disposed on the front of the camera, and a release 202 and a mode dial 204 at the top of the camera can be seen from the front.

  FIG. 3 is an external view (back side) of the electronic camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The LSD 123, the speaker 124, the operation buttons 114, and the viewfinder 203 are arranged on the back of the camera. On the left side of the back side, there is an insertion slot for a battery and a memory card, and the upper release 202 and mode dial 204 can be seen as in the front side.

  Next, a display example of the embodiment according to the present invention will be shown with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows a desktop OSD (photographed image size> PC desktop size) displayed on the LCD panel.

  When the resolution of the electronic camera is larger than the PC resolution, the PC desktop size is smaller than the captured image displayed on the LCD 123 of the electronic camera. Therefore, the user can display the desktop OSD 402 on the LCD 123 to allow the user to set the size of the captured image. It is possible to grasp.

  Next, a display example of the embodiment according to the present invention will be shown with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 shows a desktop OSD and a captured image OSD (PC desktop size> captured image size) displayed on the LCD.

  When the resolution of the electronic camera is smaller than the PC resolution, the PC desktop size is larger than the captured image displayed on the LCD 123 of the electronic camera, and thus it is necessary to display both the desktop OSD 402 and the captured image OSD 403. In this way, the user can grasp the size of the captured image.

  For example, when the CCD 104 has about 3.34 million pixels, the number of pixels taken by the electronic camera is, for example, horizontal 2048 × vertical 1536 (3.14 million pixels), horizontal 1280 × vertical 960 (1.22 million pixels), horizontal 640 × vertical 480 (30 Many cameras are capable of shooting at a resolution such as 10,000 pixels. Thus, for example, when the electronic desktop is set to have a desktop size of 1024 dots x 768 dots vertically and the image is taken at 640 x 480 in the horizontal direction, it is displayed on the LCD 123 as shown in FIG. Is done.

Here, the size of the captured image OSD 403 is compared with the size of the desktop OSD 402,
Vertical length: The number of vertical dots of the photographed image / the number of vertical dots of the PC desktop Horizontal length: The size is displayed so as to be the size of the number of horizontal dots of the photographed image / the number of horizontal dots of the PC desktop.

  The LCD 123 installed in the electronic camera has a limited number of pixels compared to a PC monitor, and there are many dots that are arranged in a delta arrangement to increase the resolution. However, the ratio of the sizes of the desktop OSD 402 and the captured image OSD 404 is made as close as possible to the size ratio when the captured image is actually viewed on the PC desktop.

  Next, a control procedure for displaying the desktop OSD on the LCD will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for displaying the desktop OSD on the LCD.

  In FIG. 6, a power button (not shown) is pressed to turn on the electronic camera, and it is confirmed whether the resolution of the PC used by the user has been input to the electronic camera (step S601).

  Note that the PC resolution information can be stored in the flash memory 117, and once the information is input, it can be stored even when the electronic camera is turned off.

  If no PC resolution information is input to the electronic camera (step S601 / No), the user inputs arbitrary PC resolution information (step S602), and the information is written and stored in the flash memory 117.

  Here, as the PC resolution to be selected, for example, a setting value as shown below (Table 1) widely used in the PC can be prepared to simplify the user input procedure.

  If the PC resolution information has already been input (step S601 / Yes), the PC resolution data stored in the flash memory 117 is read (step S603), and then the currently set image resolution information of the electronic camera is set. Is read (step S604). The captured image resolution of the electronic camera can usually be set in the SETUP mode of the electronic camera (mode dial 204), and this information can also be stored in the flash memory 117 as with the PC resolution data.

  Next, the size of the PC resolution data read in steps S603 and S604 is compared with the size of the captured image resolution data of the electronic camera (step S605).

  If the electronic camera resolution is larger than the PC resolution (step S605 / Yes), only the desktop OSD is displayed (step S606). Since the resolution of the electronic camera is greater than the PC resolution, the PC desktop size is smaller than the captured image displayed on the LCD 123 of the electronic camera, and the desktop OSD 402 is displayed on the LCD 123 so that the user can adjust the size of the captured image. It is because it becomes possible to grasp. FIG. 4 shows an example of the display.

  If the PC resolution is higher than the electronic camera resolution (step S605 / No), the desktop OSD and the captured image OSD are displayed (step S607). This is because since the resolution of the electronic camera is smaller than the PC resolution, the PC desktop size is larger than the captured image displayed on the LCD 123 of the electronic camera, and it is necessary to display both the desktop OSD 402 and the captured image OSD 403. FIG. 5 shows an example of the display.

1 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an external view (front surface portion) of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an external view (back surface portion) of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a display example which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a display example which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the operation | movement which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

101 Optical Lens 102 Shutter 103 Optical Low Pass Filter (Optical LPF)
104 CCD
105 CCD driver 106 Timing generator 107 CDS: A / D
108 Lens motor 109 Shutter motor 110 Motor driver 111 DC jack 112 Battery 113 DC / DC converter 114 Operation button 115 Non-volatile memory 116 SDRAM
117 Flash memory 118 USB driver 119 USB connector 120 Video amplifier 121 AV Jack
122 LCD driver 123 LCD
124 Speaker 125 Microphone 126 Voice CODEC
127 Strobe Circuit 128 Strobe 129 Electronic Camera ASSP
130 Image processor 131 A / D, D / A converter 132 Video encoder 133 Microcomputer 134 Various interfaces 135 Card connector 136 Memory card 201 Strobe light control sensor 202 Release 203 Finder 204 Mode dial 205 Lens barrel 301 Battery & memory card insertion slot 402 Desktop OSD
403 Image OSD

Claims (14)

Imaging means for capturing light from the subject;
Photoelectric conversion means for converting the captured light into an electrical signal;
Image compression means for compressing the image information converted into the electrical signal;
Display means for expanding and displaying the compressed image information,
The display unit displays an OSD (On Screen Display) indicating a desktop desktop size when a captured image is displayed on a PC (Personal Computer).   When the captured image is larger than the desktop size of the PC, the display means displays the OSD (desktop OSD) from the top of the captured image of the PC desktop so that the photographer can display the captured image. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size is recognized.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the display unit selects a resolution of a PC monitor used by a photographer, the size of the desktop OSD changes correspondingly.   4. The image recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the imaging resolution of the image recording apparatus is changed, the display unit also changes the size of the desktop OSD. 5.   2. The image recording according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays an OSD indicating a ratio of the desktop size of the PC and the captured image size when the captured image is smaller than the size of the desktop of the PC. apparatus.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the resolution of the PC monitor used by the photographer is selected, the display means changes the size of the OSD indicating the ratio accordingly.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the photographing resolution of the image recording apparatus is changed, the size of the OSD indicating the ratio changes correspondingly. An imaging process for capturing light from the subject;
A photoelectric conversion step of converting the captured light into an electrical signal;
An image compression step of compressing the image information converted into the electrical signal;
Expanding and displaying the compressed image information, and
The display step includes displaying an OSD (On Screen Display) indicating a desktop desktop size when a captured image is displayed on a PC (Personal Computer).   In the display step, when the captured image is larger than the desktop size of the PC, the photographer displays the OSD (desktop OSD) on the desktop image of the PC so that the photographer can display the captured image. The image display method according to claim 8, wherein the size is recognized.   10. The image display method according to claim 9, wherein, in the display step, when the resolution of the PC monitor used by the photographer is selected, the size of the desktop OSD changes correspondingly.   10. The image display method according to claim 9, wherein in the display step, when the photographing resolution of the image recording step is changed, the size of the desktop OSD is also changed correspondingly.   9. The image display according to claim 8, wherein the display step displays an OSD indicating a ratio between the desktop size of the PC and the captured image size when the captured image is smaller than the size of the desktop of the PC. Method.   13. The image display method according to claim 12, wherein, in the display step, when the resolution of the PC monitor used by the photographer is selected, the size of the OSD indicating the ratio changes correspondingly.   13. The image display method according to claim 12, wherein in the display step, when the photographing resolution of the image recording apparatus is changed, the size of the OSD indicating the ratio is also changed correspondingly.

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