JP2001245247A - Image recording device and its reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display progress of a processing, when recording and reproducing. SOLUTION: At recording, for example, the graphic of the shortest bar graph is displayed together with the characters of 'RECORDING' which means recording as indicated in a figure A, for example, while fetching an image first. The an image compression processing performed, and in this case, the graphic of a little extended bar graph is displayed as indicated in B, for example. Information such as a file header is added to the compressed image to generate a data stream, and in this case, the graphic of a bar graph which is slightly longer than the half of a frame is displayed as shown in C, for example. Moreover, an image file is generated and the graphic of a bar graph which is slightly shorter than a whole frame is displayed as indicated in D, for example, when writing is performed in a recording medium. When writing to the recording medium is completed, the graphic of a bar graph which occupies the whole frame is displayed as shown in E, for example.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus suitable for use in recording and reproducing, for example, by arbitrarily setting an image pixel number and a compression method. More specifically, for example, a change in recording and reproduction time that occurs according to the number of pixels of an image and the setting of a compression method can be displayed in a manner that is easy for a user to understand.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an image recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing an image by arbitrarily setting the number of pixels and a compression method have been implemented. That is, for example, in an apparatus using an image sensor or the like having a sufficiently large number of pixels as means for converting image light into an electric signal, an image having a smaller number of pixels can be formed by signal processing such as thinning. is there. Also, if high image quality is not required, depending on the use of the image, the compression rate can be increased to reduce the amount of data recorded on the recording medium, or can be increased by reducing the compression rate. Image quality can be maintained.

In such an apparatus, for example, if the number of pixels of an image or the compression method is different, for example, the time required for image compression or decompression greatly changes. Also, when recording and reproducing image data with a recording medium, the time required varies greatly depending on the amount of data. This is, for example, JPEG (JointP
In the case of recording and reproducing an image of, for example, about 640 × 480 pixels using the hotographic image coding experts group) method, it can be performed in about 1 second.
For an image such as 104 pixels, a time of 10 seconds or more is required.

[0004] For example, when a text image is binarized and compressed, or when a moving image is compressed and decompressed, an extremely long time is required. If the time taken in this way changes significantly, the user may feel a great deal of discomfort, and especially if it takes a long time, the user may be misunderstood as a failure or the like.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the problem to be solved is that, for example, the number of pixels of an image and the compression method are changed in a conventional apparatus. In such a case, the time required for image compression / expansion and recording / reproducing greatly changes, giving the user a great deal of discomfort or giving a misunderstanding such as a failure.

[0006]

For this reason, in the present invention, a figure corresponding to these procedures is displayed on a display means in accordance with procedures such as image compression / expansion and recording / reproduction. According to this, since the progress of the process is displayed, the user does not feel discomfort, and the possibility of giving a misunderstanding such as a failure can be eliminated.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention comprises a display means for displaying an image, a compression means for compressing the image, and a recording means for recording the compressed image on a recording medium. An image recording apparatus capable of performing recording by arbitrarily setting the number of pixels and the compression method, and a procedure for capturing an image having at least the set number of pixels, and converting the captured image according to the set compression method. It has a procedure for compressing image data, a procedure for converting the compressed image data into predetermined recording data, and a procedure for writing the converted recording data to a recording medium. It is displayed on the display means.

Further, the present invention has a reproducing means for reproducing an image recorded on a recording medium, an expanding means for expanding the reproduced image, and a display means for displaying the expanded image. An image reproducing apparatus in which recording is performed by arbitrarily setting the number of pixels of an image and a compression method on a recording medium, wherein at least a procedure for reading recording data from the recording medium and a compression method based on the read recording data. Extracting the extracted image data, decompressing the extracted image data in accordance with the set compression method,
And a procedure for forming an image having the number of pixels set by this expansion, and displaying a graphic corresponding to these procedures on the display means.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an image recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, image light from a subject (not shown) passes through a lens block 1 and an image pickup device (CCD).
Reach 2. In the image pickup device 2, the image light is converted into an electric signal, and the converted image signal is supplied to the camera signal processing block 3 and converted into a luminance signal (Y) and two color difference signals (Cr, Cb). Further, these video signals pass through a signal processing block 4 and are supplied to a three-primary-color (RGB) decoder 5, and the converted three-primary-color signals are supplied to a liquid crystal display (LCD) display panel 6, so that an image being captured is displayed. Is displayed.

When, for example, a shutter key provided on the operation switch unit 7 is pressed, an image for one screen is output from, for example, the signal processing block 4 to a memory device (DRAM).
8. That is, when the shutter key is pressed, a signal of the instruction operation is supplied to the system controller 9. As a result, a control signal generated by the system controller 9 is supplied to the parallel bus 10, and an image for one screen is taken into the memory device 8 from the signal processing block 4 through the parallel bus 10, for example. The control signal and the image data are both transferred through the parallel bus 10.

Further, the image fetched into the memory device 8 is once fetched into the system controller 9 and
G (Joint Photographic Image coding Experts Group
) Compression is performed according to a format such as a method, and stored again at another address of the memory device 8. Further, information such as a file header is added to the compressed image by the system controller 9 to form a data stream as a JPEG file. Then, the image file of the formed data stream is transferred to the recording / reproducing device 11 via the parallel bus 10.

The transferred image file is recorded, for example, on a recording medium 12 detachably mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus 11. As the recording medium 12, a so-called floppy (registered trademark) disk, a memory card device having a built-in semiconductor memory, or a recording medium similar thereto can be used. These controls are also performed through the parallel bus 10 by a control signal generated by the system controller 9. In this manner, for example, an image of one screen of a video signal captured by the image sensor 2 is compressed, and the image is recorded on the recording medium 1 in a JPEG file format, for example.
2 is recorded.

The reproduction of an image file recorded on the recording medium 12 is performed as follows. That is, when the recording medium 12 on which the image file is recorded is mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus 11 and, for example, a reproduction key provided on the operation switch section 7 is pressed, a signal of the instruction operation is supplied to the system controller 9 and the system controller 9 is operated. A control signal generated by the controller 9 is supplied to the parallel bus 10. Then, an arbitrary image file recorded on the recording medium 12 is taken into the memory device 8 through the recording / reproducing device 11.

Further, an image from which information such as a file header is removed is taken out from the data stream of the image file taken into the memory device 8. This image is once taken into the system controller 9, expanded according to a format such as the JPEG system, and stored again at another address of the memory device 8. The decompressed image is transferred to the signal processing block 4 through the parallel bus 10, and the transferred image is supplied to the three primary color (RGB) decoder 5, and the converted three primary color signals are converted to a liquid crystal display (LCD) display panel. 6 and displayed.

The image file recorded on the recording medium 12 is reproduced and displayed on the display panel 6.
Further, in the above-described device, a control signal from the system controller 9 is supplied to the voice synthesizing circuit 13 to generate an arbitrary alarm or a voice signal, and the speaker 15
Sound is emitted from. At the same time, for example, when an audio signal is recorded on the recording medium 12, this audio signal is reproduced by the system controller 9 in the same manner as the above-described image expansion, and the reproduced audio signal is transmitted from the speaker 15 through the amplifier 14. Sound is emitted.

In this apparatus, for example, the number of pixels of an image when an image for one screen is fetched from the above-mentioned signal processing block 4 into the memory device 8 through the parallel bus 10, the method for compressing this image, etc. The setting is performed by the system controller 9. That is, for example, a menu screen required by the system controller 9 is formed according to the operation of the operation key provided on the operation switch unit 7. An OS for displaying this menu screen superimposed on the image displayed on the display panel 6 (On Screen Disply = OSD)
It is supplied to the D controller 16.

Further, a signal from the OSD controller 16 is supplied to the three primary color decoder 5, and a menu screen is superimposed on an image displayed on the display panel 6.
Thereby, for example, a menu screen formed by the system controller 9 is displayed. By arbitrarily selecting and instructing the display of the menu screen using, for example, operation keys provided on the operation switch unit 7, the number of pixels to be taken into the memory device 8 and the compression method of the image are set. These settings and the like are performed for the system controller 9.

In this manner, the number of pixels of an image to be captured, the compression method, and the like are set. In accordance with these settings, the system controller 9 captures an image from the signal processing block 4 into the memory device 8 and performs a compression process by temporarily capturing the image captured in the memory device 8. The setting information is added to the image as information such as a file header to form an image file. At the time of reproduction, the setting information is read out, and the image at the time of reproduction is expanded and the expanded image is read out from the memory device 8 in accordance with the read out setting information.

At the same time, the system controller 9
At each of the above-described recording and reproduction, a figure corresponding to the progress of the processing is formed, and the display is performed on the display panel 6 through the OSD controller 16. That is, at the time of recording, for example, a figure as shown in FIG. 2 is formed and displayed on the display panel 6. In FIG. 2, while the image is being fetched from the signal processing block 4 to the memory device 8, for example, as shown in FIG. 2A, the shortest bar graph graphic is displayed together with the word [RECORDING] meaning recording. . Note that the image is captured for the number of pixels set in the system controller 9.

Next, image compression processing is performed by the system controller 9, and at this time, for example, a bar graph figure slightly extended as shown in FIG. 2B is displayed. Further, information such as a file header is added to the image compressed by the system controller 9 to form a data stream. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. Is displayed. Further, an image file is formed, and the recording medium 1
2 is being written, for example, D in FIG.
As shown in the figure, a bar graph figure slightly shorter than the entire frame is displayed.

When the writing to the recording medium 12 is completed, a bar graph occupying the entire frame is displayed as shown in FIG. 2E. In this manner, the status of each procedure of the processing from the time when the image is being fetched into the memory device 8 to the time when the writing to the recording medium 12 is completed is displayed by the bar graphs shown in FIGS. The user can easily grasp the progress of the process by looking at the bar graph graphic. Therefore, for example, the user does not feel uncomfortable, and the possibility of misunderstanding such as a failure can be eliminated.

Further, at the time of reproduction, a figure as shown in FIG. 3, for example, is formed and displayed on the display panel 6.
In FIG. 3, first, the recording medium 12 is stored in the memory device 8.
While the image file is being loaded into the FILE, this means that the image file is taken out, for example, as shown in FIG.
ACCESS] along with the shortest bar graph graphic. Note that the image file is fetched, for example, by first reading information added to the header or the like of the image file into the system controller 9 and according to the number of pixels set there.

Next, an image in which information such as a file header is removed from the data stream of the image file taken into the memory device 8 is taken out. In this case, for example, a bar graph slightly extended as shown in FIG. Is displayed. Further, the system controller 9 performs image expansion processing. At this time, for example, as shown in FIG. 3C, a bar graph graphic slightly longer than half of the frame is displayed. During the writing of the decompressed image to the memory device 8, a bar graph graphic slightly shorter than the entire frame is displayed, for example, as shown in FIG. 3D.

Further, when an image is written out to the memory device 8 and can be displayed on the display panel 6, a bar graph occupying the entire frame is displayed as shown in FIG. 3E. In this manner, the status of each procedure of the processing from when the image is being fetched from the recording medium 12 to when the image can be displayed on the display panel 6 is displayed by the bar graphs shown in FIGS. The user can easily grasp the progress of the process by looking at the bar graph graphic. Therefore, for example, the user does not feel uncomfortable, and the possibility of misunderstanding such as a failure can be eliminated.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a figure corresponding to these procedures is displayed on the display means in accordance with procedures such as image compression / expansion and recording / reproduction. The resulting changes in the recording and reproduction times can be displayed in a manner that is easy for the user to understand. For example, in the conventional apparatus, when the number of pixels or the compression method of an image is changed, the time required for image compression / expansion and recording / reproduction greatly changes, giving a great sense of incongruity to the user or misunderstanding such as failure. According to the present invention, these problems can be easily solved.

Thus, according to the above-described image recording apparatus, display means for displaying an image, compression means for compressing an image,
Recording means for recording the compressed image on a recording medium, and an image recording apparatus capable of performing recording by arbitrarily setting the number of pixels and the compression method of the image to be recorded, and A procedure for capturing an image having the number of pixels obtained, a procedure for compressing the captured image into image data using a set compression method, a procedure for converting the compressed image data into predetermined recording data, Writing the recorded data to a recording medium, and displaying the graphic corresponding to these procedures on the display means, so that the progress of the processing during the recording is displayed, thereby giving a sense of incongruity to the user. This eliminates the possibility of misunderstanding such as failure.

According to the image reproducing apparatus described above, a reproducing means for reproducing an image recorded on a recording medium, an expanding means for expanding the reproduced image, and a display means for displaying the expanded image An image reproducing apparatus in which recording is performed by arbitrarily setting the number of pixels of an image and a compression method on a recording medium, and a procedure for reading recording data from at least the recording medium, A procedure for extracting compressed image data from recording data, a procedure for expanding the extracted image data in accordance with a set compression method, and a procedure for forming an image having the set number of pixels by the expansion. By displaying the graphics corresponding to these procedures on the display means, the progress of the process being reproduced is displayed, so that the user does not feel uncomfortable, May give a solution is also one that can be eliminated.

In the above-described image recording apparatus and reproducing apparatus, the graphic indicating the progress of the processing is not always displayed, but is processed in advance according to information such as the number of pixels of the set image and the compression method. May be predicted and performed only when the predicted time is equal to or longer than a predetermined time. This is because, for example, in the case of an image of about 640 × 480 pixels, recording and reproduction can be performed in about 1 second using the above-described JPEG method, and in such a case, the above-described graphic is displayed. This is rather complicated.

The displayed figures are not limited to the examples shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. For example, the processing time of each stage is predicted, and the bar graph is gradually changed according to the time. A graphic that expands may be displayed. Further, these graphics may not be formed by the system controller 9 but may be formed by the OSD controller 16 based on information from the system controller 9. Alternatively, it is also possible to separately provide a controller or the like for forming such a figure.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0032]

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a graphic corresponding to these procedures is displayed on the display means in accordance with the procedures such as image compression and recording. The change in the recording time that occurs according to the setting can be displayed in a manner that is easy for the user to understand. For example, in the conventional apparatus, when the number of pixels of an image or the compression method is changed, the time required for image compression or recording is greatly changed, which may give a user a great sense of incongruity or a misunderstanding such as a failure. However, according to the present invention, these problems can be easily solved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the graphic corresponding to the procedure can be displayed in a bar graph extending in accordance with the procedure, so that the change in the recording time can be displayed in a manner easy for the user to understand. It is.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, only when it is predicted that a long time is required to execute a procedure according to a combination of the number of pixels of an image and a compression method to be set, a graphic display means corresponding to the procedure is displayed. By performing the display on the display, useless display is stopped to prevent the display from becoming complicated.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, graphics corresponding to these procedures are displayed on the display means in accordance with procedures such as image reproduction and decompression, so that the number of pixels of the image and the compression method can be set. , The change in the reproduction time generated according to the user can be displayed in a manner that is easy for the user to understand. For example, in the conventional apparatus, when the number of pixels of the image or the compression method is changed, the time taken to reproduce or decompress the image significantly changes, which may give a user a great deal of discomfort or misunderstanding such as a failure. However, according to the present invention, these problems can be easily solved.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the graphic corresponding to the procedure displays a bar graph extending in accordance with the procedure, so that the change in the reproduction time can be displayed in a manner that is easy for the user to understand. It is.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, only when it is predicted that a long time is required to execute a procedure according to a combination of the number of pixels of an image to be set and a compression method, a graphic display means corresponding to the procedure is displayed. By performing the display on the display, useless display is stopped to prevent the display from becoming complicated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an image recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Lens block, 2 ... Image sensor (CCD), 3 ... Camera signal processing block, 4 ... Signal processing block, 5 ... 3
Primary color (RGB) decoder, 6 Liquid crystal display (LC
D) display panel, 7 operation switch section, 8 memory device (DRAM), 9 system controller, 10 parallel bus, 11 recording / reproducing device, 12 recording medium, 13
... Speech synthesis circuit, 14 ... Amplifier, 15 ... Speaker, 1
6 OSD controller

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/781 H04N 5/781 510K // H04N 101: 00

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image display device comprising: display means for displaying an image; compression means for compressing the image; and recording means for recording the compressed image on a recording medium. An image recording apparatus capable of performing recording by arbitrarily setting a method, a procedure for capturing an image having at least the set number of pixels, and converting the captured image into image data by the set compression method. A procedure for compressing the compressed image data into predetermined recording data; and a step for writing the converted recording data to the recording medium. The graphic corresponding to these procedures is displayed on the display. An image recording apparatus for displaying on an image recording means. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the graphic corresponding to the procedure displays a bar graph extending in accordance with the procedure. 3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the procedure is performed only when a long time is expected to be executed in accordance with a combination of the number of pixels of the image and the compression method. An image recording apparatus for displaying a graphic on the display means. 4. A reproducing means for reproducing an image recorded on a recording medium, an expanding means for expanding the reproduced image,
Display means for displaying the decompressed image, and wherein the recording medium is recorded by arbitrarily setting the number of pixels and the compression method of the image, wherein at least the recording medium A procedure for reading recorded data from the apparatus; a procedure for extracting compressed image data from the read recording data; a procedure for expanding the extracted image data in accordance with the set compression method; Forming an image having the set number of pixels according to (1), and displaying a graphic corresponding to these procedures on the display means. 5. The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the graphic corresponding to the procedure displays a bar graph extending in accordance with the procedure. 6. The image reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the procedure is performed only when a long time is expected to be performed in accordance with a combination of the number of pixels of the set image and a compression method. An image reproducing apparatus for displaying a graphic on the display means.