JPH09238303A - Digital still video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video camera in which a relation between an image file and an audio file is easily understood, the image pickup and recorded image file and audio file are managed with convenience in the handling of file transmission and excellent operability. SOLUTION: Image pickup means (101-105) pick up an object and output and the picked-up image data are coded by image data coding means (106, 107). On the other hand, the audio input means (111-113) convert an audio signal into an electric signal and the audio data converted into the electric signal are coded by the audio data coding means 114 and a registration means 121 stores the coded image data as an image file and the coded audio data as an audio file in a storage means, then the files are registered in file names including relation information representing the image file and the audio file.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital still video camera which inputs a still image, a moving image, a sound, etc., converts it into digital data and records it in a storage medium such as a memory card, and more particularly, to a shooting storage medium. The present invention relates to a digital still video camera which is easy to understand the relationship between image files and audio files recorded in, and is convenient for file management of image and audio files recorded / recorded and handling of file transmission and has excellent operability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a device capable of directly inputting an image and a sound to an information device has been desired, and a device such as a memory card, a hard disk, an MO or the like (information storage device) can be used.
Alternatively, image and audio information is input to the information device by transmission. In such a system, an information storage device having a data format that is excellent in handling and operability is required on the information equipment side.

For example, in a digital still video camera, a captured image and sound are often converted into digital image and sound data, compressed, and then stored in an attached memory card or the like. Further, in recent years, with the increase in the capacity of the memory card and the progress in compression technology, the generation of file names during recording has been devised.

For example, in the information storage device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-153140, a name including processed data of date and time is generated as a file name to avoid duplication of the file name, and A part of the file name can be specified by the user, and the remaining part is supplemented by the camera so that a name that avoids duplication can be generated. Furthermore, when the data size is changed, the storage of the storage medium is performed. Usability is improved by re-searching the feasible area.

Further, in the information storage device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-231023, a predetermined part of the file name in the information storage device which performs memory management in the DOS format is set arbitrarily, and other parts are set. File names are automatically organized.

Further, in the image handling apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-177406, image data recorded in a file format on an information recording medium is targeted for transmission by image specifying information such as a directory number or a file name. In a format in which the image file is specified, a plurality of pieces of image specifying information are collectively stored in a control file, which is a file set separately from the image file on the same information recording medium. Image data of sequential image files specified by the image specifying information collectively held in the control file is transmitted.

[0007]

However, in such a conventional information recording apparatus or image handling apparatus, since the related image file and audio file are managed as separate files, There is a problem that when the audio file is copied, etc., the management file is forgotten and the relationship between the files is lost. In other words, the management file must be transmitted at the same time. There was a problem that it had to be.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is possible to easily understand the relation between the image file and the audio file which are photographed and recorded in the storage medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital still video camera which is convenient for file management of audio files and handling of file transmission and has excellent operability.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a digital still video camera according to claim 1 of the present invention is an image pickup means for picking up and outputting a subject, and the picked-up image data is encoded. Image data encoding means for
A voice input means for converting voice into an electric signal, a voice data encoding means for encoding voice data converted into the electric signal, and the encoded voice using the encoded image data as an image file. Storage means for recording data as an audio file, and a file name including related information indicating the relationship between the image file and the audio file,
A registration unit that registers the image file and the sound file in the storage unit is provided.

The digital still video camera according to a second aspect of the present invention is the digital still video camera according to the first aspect, in which related image files and audio files are registered with a file name including the same related information. Files having a file name including the related information of are treated as one file group.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an outline of a digital still video camera of the present invention and an embodiment of a digital still video camera of the present invention will be described in detail in order with reference to the drawings.

[Outline of Digital Still Video Camera of the Present Invention] In the digital still video camera according to claim 1 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. The encoded image data is encoded by the image data encoding means 106 and 107,
On the other hand, the voice input means 111 to 113 convert voice into an electric signal, the voice data converted into the electric signal is encoded by the voice data encoding means 114, and the registration means 1
21. A file including related information indicating a relationship between the image file and the audio file when the encoded image data is recorded as an image file and the encoded audio data is recorded as an audio file in a storage unit. I try to register with my name.

As described above, by handling the file by identifying the portion of the related information indicating the relation between the image file and the sound file of the file name, the relation between the image file and the sound file photographed and recorded in the storage medium can be facilitated. It is possible to realize a digital still video camera that is easy to understand, convenient for file management of image and sound files that have been shot / recorded, and convenient for handling file transmission.

In the digital still video camera according to the second aspect, the related image file and audio file are registered with the file name including the same related information, and the file having the file name including the same related information is registered. It is handled as one file group.

As described above, by identifying the related information portion and treating the files having the same related information as one group, it is possible to perform a collective processing such as group transmission.
The problem that the relation between files becomes unclear due to forgetting to transmit the management file unlike the conventional case does not occur.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital still video camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the digital still video camera of this embodiment includes a lens 101, a mechanical mechanism 102 including auto focus, a CCD 103, and a CDS circuit 10.
4, A / D converter 105, digital signal processing unit 106,
Image compression / decompression unit 107, FIFO 108, card interface 109, PC card interface 110,
Microphone 111, amplifier filter 112, A / D converter 1
13, audio compression / decompression unit 114, D / A converter 115,
Amplifier filter 116, CPU 121, display unit 122,
Operation unit 123, transmission unit 124, motor driver 125,
It comprises an SG (control signal generation) unit 126, a strobe 127, a battery 128, and a DC-DC converter 129.

The lens unit comprises a lens 101, a mechanical mechanism 102 including an autofocus (AF) / aperture / filter section, and the like, and a mechanical shutter of the mechanical mechanism 102 performs simultaneous exposure of two fields. CCD
The (charge-coupled device) 103 converts an image input via the lens unit into an electric signal (analog image data). The CDS (correlated double sampling) circuit 104
This is a circuit for reducing noise of a CD-type image sensor.
The A / D converter 105 converts analog image data input from the CCD 103 via the CDS circuit 104 into digital image data. That is, the output signal of the CCD 103 is passed through the CDS circuit 104 to the A / D converter 105.
Is converted into a digital signal at the optimum sampling frequency (for example, an integer multiple of the subcarrier frequency of the NTSC signal).

Further, the digital signal processing unit 106 is
The digital image data input from the D converter 105 is divided into color difference and luminance, and various types of processing, correction, and data processing for image compression / expansion are performed. The image compression / decompression unit 107
For example, orthogonal transformation, which is one process of image compression / expansion conforming to JPEG, and Huffman encoding / compositing, which is one process of image compression / expansion conforming to JPEG, are performed.

On the other hand, the voice is converted into an electric signal by a voice-electric signal conversion element such as a microphone 111, amplified by an amplifier filter 112 and cut off to a required band, and then converted into a required band by an A / D converter 113. It is converted into a digital signal at a sampling frequency of twice or more. Furthermore,
This digital signal is compressed and encoded by the audio compression / decompression unit 114.

The FIFO 108 is realized by, for example, a DRAM, a flash memory, etc., and temporarily stores a compressed image and a compressed voice, and the FIFO 108
The compressed image data and the compressed audio data held by are read out through the card interface 109 and recorded in a storage medium (not shown) such as a PC card connected through the PC card interface 110.

The CPU 121 controls the operation of each of the above parts according to an instruction from the operation section 113 or an external operation instruction such as a remote controller (not shown). Further, the camera power source is input to the DC-DC converter 119 from the battery 128, for example, NiCd, nickel hydrogen, lithium battery, etc., and is supplied to the inside of the digital still video camera.

The display unit 122 is realized by an LCD, an LED, an EL, etc., and displays captured digital image data and decompressed recorded image data, and the mode display unit displays the digital still video camera. , Etc. are displayed on the screen. In addition, the operation unit 105 is used for function selection,
It is equipped with buttons for external shooting instructions and other various settings.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the lens 10
1, mechanical mechanism 102, CCD 103, CDS circuit 104
And an A / D converter 105 as an image pickup unit, a digital signal processing unit 106 and an image compression / decompression unit 107 as an image data encoding unit, and a microphone 111, an amplifier filter 112 and an A / D converter 113 as an audio input unit. , The voice compression / decompression unit 114 implements voice data encoding means,
The registration means is realized by the CPU 121 that executes a control program stored in a memory such as a ROM (not shown).

Next, FIG. 2 shows a format diagram of a directory entry of an image or audio file in the digital still video camera of this embodiment. In this example, the DO (OS) is used as the OS (operating system).
S is used.

In FIG. 2, as data in the field, a file name 201, a file attribute 202, a creation / update time 203, a creation update date / time 204, a physical position (start cluster) 205 of the file on the disk, and a file Information about the size 206 is recorded.
This field will be added each time a new file is created.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of file names of image files or audio files in the digital still video camera of this embodiment. In the DOS format, 8-byte data can be recorded as a file name. However, the extension is different.

In FIG. 3, the manufacturer specified code is recorded in the first and second bytes A and B. Further, in the third and fourth bytes C and D, for example, the following three types of recording modes are recorded as related information. That is, one of the following data is recorded for each recording file. 1st mode (still image): 00 2nd mode (still image + audio): AV 3rd mode (continuous image): C1 to C9

Furthermore, the sixth, seventh and eighth bytes E, F
In G and G, file identification information is recorded, and a serial number is recorded. For example, in the second mode (still image + sound), files having the same file name at the sixth, seventh, and eighth bytes E, F, and G are associated files. Further, in the case of the third mode (continuous image), the files having the same number as C and the next number are associated files, and the sixth, seventh, and eighth bytes E, F, and G are It indicates the recording order in time.

Next, FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an internal file of a storage medium (storage means) in the digital still video camera of this embodiment. As a storage medium, for example, a PC card is read by the OS on the personal computer side, so that the OS on the personal computer side is recorded in a format that is easy to read. Currently D
The OS format is commonly used.

As shown in FIG. 4, inside the storage medium, first, second and third image files 421, 422 and 423 are captured image data files, and first and second image data files are audio data files. 2 audio files 431
And 432 are recorded respectively.

Next, the operation of file transmission processing of the digital still video camera of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this case, first,
A file to be transmitted is specified by the operation unit 123. Normally, this is done by selecting a display from the files displayed on the display unit 122.

In step S501, the type and recording mode of the selected file are discriminated based on the selected file name and extension. When it is determined that the mode is the first mode (still image), a related file group is selected to create a file group (steps S502, S).
503). Then, in step S504, the created file groups are continuously transmitted.

If it is determined that the mode is the second mode (still image + sound), a related file group is selected to create a file group (steps S512 and S5).
13). Then, in step S514, the created file groups are continuously transmitted.

Further, when it is determined that the mode is the third mode (continuous image), a related file group is selected to create a file group (steps S522 and S52).
3). Then, in step S524, the created file groups are continuously transmitted.

As described above, in this embodiment, the same related information (for example, recording mode type such as still image, still image + sound, and continuous image) is included in the related image file and audio file. Make sure to register with a file name, and create a file group with a file group that has the same related information.
Since it is handled collectively in groups, it is possible to perform file transmission processing in a lump, and it is convenient and easy to handle file transmission of image files and audio files and file transmission. Can be realized.

[0037]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
According to the digital still video camera of the present invention, the image pickup means picks up and outputs the subject, the picked-up image data is coded by the image data coding means, and the sound input means converts the sound into an electric signal. The voice data converted into the electric signal is encoded by the voice data encoding means, and the registration means stores the encoded image data as an image file and the encoded voice data as a voice file in the storage means. At the time of recording, a file name including the related information indicating the relationship between the image file and the audio file is registered, and the part of the related information indicating the relationship between the image file and the audio file in the file name is identified to create the file. Since it was decided to handle it, it is easy to understand the relationship between the image files and audio files that were taken and recorded in the storage medium. , It is possible to provide a file management, digital still video camera having excellent convenient and operability in handling file transmission of the image file and audio file recorded and recorded.

According to the digital still video camera of the second aspect, the related image file and audio file are registered with the file name including the same related information,
1 for a file with a file name including the same related information
Since it is handled as one file group, it is possible to perform batch processing such as group transmission, provide file management of image files and audio files, and provide a digital still video camera that is convenient and easy to handle file transmission. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a digital still video camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a format diagram of a directory entry of an image or audio file in the digital still video camera of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a file name structure of an image or audio file in the digital still video camera according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an internal file of a storage unit in the digital still video camera of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of file transmission processing in the digital still video camera according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101-105 Imaging Means 101 Lens 102 Mechanical Mechanism 103 CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 104 CDS (Correlation Double Sampling) Circuit 105 A / D Converter 106, 107 Image Data Encoding Means 106 Digital Signal Processing Unit 107 Image Compression / Expansion Section 108 FIFO 109 card interface 110 PC card interface 111-113 voice input means 111 microphones 112, 116 amplifier filter 113 A / D converter 114 voice compression / expansion section (voice data encoding means) 115 D / A converter 121 CPU (Registering means) 122 Display unit 123 Operation unit 124 Transmission unit 125 Motor driver 126 SG unit 127 Strobe 128 Battery 129 DC-DC converter

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means for picking up and outputting a subject,
Image data encoding means for encoding the captured image data, voice input means for converting voice into an electric signal, voice data encoding means for encoding the voice data converted into the electric signal, and the code Storage means for recording the encoded image data as an image file and the encoded audio data as an audio file; and a file name including related information indicating a relationship between the image file and the audio file, A digital still video camera, comprising: a registration unit that registers the audio file in the storage unit. 2. The related image file and audio file are registered with a file name including the same related information, and files having the file name including the same related information are treated as one file group. The digital still video camera according to claim 1.