JP2000078509A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable setting a condition optionally when a preview picture is generated by means of a simple operation by setting the condition for generating the preview picture, generating the preview picture in accordance with the set condition and recording it. SOLUTION: A preview setting part 15 starts a position setting part 16 or a size setting part 17 based on contents which are inputted by viewing picture data 11 indicated in a display part 14 and transmits setting condition information to a picture recording control part 12. The picture recording control part 12 obtains recording picture data to be an original picture by processing picture data 11 to be stored in a frame memory 13 under the set condition and records it in a recording medium 18. Besides, preview picture data are obtained by executing the processing in accordance with setting condition information which is inputted from the position setting part 16 or the size setting part 17 as against picture data 11 to be stored in the frame memory 13 and the preview data are also recorded in the recording medium 18. Thus, a retrieval and an output confirmation are facilitated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus suitable for a digital still camera, for example, for recording an original image and a preview image which is a partial image of the original image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a digital still camera,
Separately from the original image taken, a preview image or a thumbnail image, which is a partial image created from this original image, is recorded in a recording medium together with a reduced size, reduced image quality, and simplified image. Some devices have a convenient function that can perform an outline check and the like.

The preview image recording function is as follows: (1) An arbitrary image can be easily searched from a recording medium on which a plurality of images are recorded. (2) Even when it is desired to check the overview of the entirety of the plurality of images recorded on the recording medium, the screen of the display unit is divided, and a plurality of preview images are simultaneously displayed by a so-called multi-screen display, so that it is possible to shorten the time. You can check their contents. (3) If the multi-screen itself is hard-copied by a printer, it can be used as a table of contents of the recording medium. It is possible to provide a user-friendly usage method such as the above.

[0004]

In general, the preview image is generated by reducing the size of the entire original image as it is at a fixed reduction rate and deteriorating the image quality. FIG. 4 exemplifies recorded image data (B) as an original image obtained from captured image data (A) and a preview image (C) generated from the original image.

[0005] In this case, the captured image data (A) is adjusted in accordance with the set image quality and the like, and then the recorded image data (B) is obtained and recorded on a recording medium. B), all the pixels constituting the image are thinned out at a fixed rate in both the vertical and horizontal directions, and the preview image data (such as invalidating the lower bits of the quantized data of the remaining pixels or increasing the compression ratio). C) is obtained and recorded on a recording medium.

Therefore, for example, when a scene in which a very small part of the subject changes continuously, it is difficult to find the difference between the reduced screens of the preview image, and the search cannot be performed. It is possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has as its object to be able to arbitrarily set conditions for creating a preview image by a simple operation. An image processing device is provided.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In an image processing apparatus for recording an original image and a preview image which is a partial image of the original image, condition setting means for setting conditions for generating the preview image, and a preview image according to the conditions set by the condition setting means And recording control means for generating and recording the data.

With such a configuration, it is possible to arbitrarily generate and record an easy preview image corresponding to the content of the original image, such as a search or an outline check. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the condition setting means sets a position of the preview image with respect to the original image.

With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, the position in the original image can be specified by a simple operation, and a preview image that is easy to search or confirm the outline can be arbitrarily set. It can be generated and recorded.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the condition setting means sets a size of a preview image with respect to the original image.
With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, the size of the original image can be specified by a simple operation, and an easy preview image such as a search or a summary check can be provided as needed. Can be generated and recorded.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus compresses and records a preview image generated from an original image, and the condition setting means controls the preview image. The data compression ratio is arbitrarily set, and the recording control means records the data after compressing the preview image in accordance with the data compression rate set by the condition setting means.

With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, a preview image having a necessary level of detail is specified, and a preview image that can be easily searched and confirmed is generated. For recording, the capacity of the recording medium can be used effectively.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the recording control means simultaneously records the original image together with the preview image. With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the invention described in claim 1, the preview image can be reliably recorded without forgetting.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus comprises:
The digital still camera is characterized in that a subject image is captured and recorded as still image data.

According to this structure, in addition to the effect of the invention described in any one of the first to fifth aspects, an original still image obtained by imaging is recorded on a recording medium such as a memory card or a floppy disk. Upon recording, a preview image can be created from the original image under arbitrary conditions and recorded together, and the recorded preview image can be used to easily search for the original image and confirm the outline.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [Configuration] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration. For example, digital values input by an imaging operation in the case of a digital still camera or by a scanner, a network or an external device in the case of a data processing device such as a personal computer. The image data 11 is held in the frame memory 13 via the image recording control unit 12, and is displayed and output on a display unit 14 including, for example, a liquid crystal display panel and a display drive unit thereof.

Setting condition information is input to the image recording control unit 12 from one of the position setting unit 16 and the size setting unit 17 in response to a setting operation on the preview setting unit 15 having various operation keys.

That is, the preview setting unit 15 includes operation keys including, for example, a “position” key, a “size” key, an “ENTER” key, and cursor keys for up, down, left and right directions, and image data displayed on the display unit 14. Position setting unit 16 according to the contents inputted by key operation while viewing
Alternatively, the size setting unit 17 is activated to send the setting condition information to the image recording control unit 12.

The image recording control unit 12 includes a frame memory 1
The image data 11 stored in the frame memory 13 is processed under the set conditions to obtain recording image data serving as an original image and recorded on a recording medium 18. 11 is processed according to the setting condition information input from the position setting unit 16 or the size setting unit 17 to obtain preview image data, and the preview image data is also recorded on the recording medium 18.

[Operation] Next, a series of operations of each unit of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. The image recording control unit 12 mainly controls this processing.

When the digitized image data 11 as shown in FIG. 3A is input (step S1), the image recording controller 12 stores and holds the image data 11 in the frame memory 13 (step S1). In step S2), the held image data 11 is read out and displayed on the display unit 14.

In the state where the image data 11 is displayed on the display unit 14 in this manner, whether the manual setting of the preview image is performed is determined depending on whether the "position" key or the "size" key of the preview setting unit 15 is operated. Is determined (step S3).

Here, if it is determined that neither the "position" key nor the "size" key is operated and manual setting of the preview image is to be performed, a predetermined fixed value is used. Conditions, for example, image data 1
Conditions for thinning out two pixels both vertically and horizontally to one pixel, and invalidating the lower half of the quantized data of each remaining pixel in both the vertical and horizontal directions in order to reduce the entire size of each pixel to half the size of the standard original image. Is set (step S4).

If it is determined in step S3 that the "position" key or the "size" key has been operated and manual setting of the preview image is to be performed, the "position" key is operated next. Then, it is determined whether or not an arbitrary position in the image data 11 is set as a condition (step S5).

If it is determined that the operated key is the "position" key, a rectangle R indicating the range of the preview image is displayed in the image displayed on the display unit 14 as shown in FIG. After that, the rectangle R is moved as indicated by an arrow T1 in the figure according to the operation of the cursor key, and "ENT
The condition set by the position setting unit 16 is set as a range of the preview image as a range of the preview image when the "ER" key is operated (step S6).

If it is determined in step S5 that the operated key is not the "position" key, the operated key is the "size" key. Therefore, as shown in FIG. After displaying a rectangle R indicating the range of the preview image in the image displayed on the display unit 14, the size of the rectangle R is changed as indicated by an arrow T2 in the figure according to the operation of the cursor key. When the "ENTER" key is operated, the range surrounded by the rectangle R is set as a preview image range by the size setting unit 17 (step S7).

After setting the conditions in any one of steps S4, S6, and S7 as described above, the image recording control unit 12 sets a predetermined pixel size as shown in FIG. The preview image data is created (step S8).

Then, the created preview image data and the image data 1 stored in the frame memory 13 are stored.
1 itself, a compression method set in advance, for example, JPEG (Joint Photograph)
hic coding Experts Group)
Then, the orthogonal transform ADCT (AdaptiveD
iscrete Cosine Transform:
An image file of original image data and preview image data is created by compression using a combination of adaptive discrete cosine transform) and Huffman encoding, which is entropy encoding, and both are recorded in a predetermined area of the recording medium 18 (step S).
9) This ends the process.

In the above embodiment, the description has been made assuming that the condition setting of the preview image data is performed by designating either the "position" or the "size". However, this is for the purpose of simplifying the description. Actually, by setting conditions of “position” and “size” together, preview image data can be created by specifying an arbitrary range at an arbitrary position of the original image data. .

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when setting the condition of the preview image data by designating the "size", an arbitrary range in the original image data is designated, and a predetermined pixel is determined from the image data in the range. Although the preview image data of the size is created, not only the size of the range cut out from the original image data but also the pixel size of the preview image data itself to be created may be variably set. .

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the created preview image data is recorded on the recording medium 18 after performing data compression using a compression method such as JPEG, for example. The setting may be made possible, for example, by changing the truncation range of high-frequency components in the orthogonal transform, so as to be able to select and specify one that requires detailed information in an image and one that only needs to know a rough image pattern.

Further, the original image data and the conditions for the original image data are set and the preview image data created from the original image data are simultaneously recorded on the recording medium 18, so that the preview image data used for retrieval or the like can be obtained. Although it is possible to reliably record the original image data together with the original image data, the original image data once recorded on the recording medium 18 is read out, and the preview image data is created again. By overwriting and recording the data on the recording medium 18 instead of the data, the preview image data which can be easily set, such as a search that reflects the intention of the user, may be reset.

When the image processing apparatus described above is applied to a digital still camera, image data 1
When data 1 is compressed and recorded on a recording medium 18 such as a memory card or a floppy disk, preview image data can be created under arbitrary conditions using the image data 11 as an original image and recorded together. By looking at the preview image data, it is possible to more easily search for the original image data and confirm the outline. In addition, the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

[0035]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to arbitrarily generate and record an easy preview image corresponding to the contents of the original image, such as a search or a summary check. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, a position in the original image is specified by a simple operation to arbitrarily generate a preview image which is easy to search and confirm the outline. Can be recorded.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first aspect of the present invention, the size of the original image is specified by a simple operation, and the search and the outline confirmation can be easily performed as necessary. It is possible to arbitrarily generate and record a simple preview image.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, a preview image having a necessary level of detail is specified to generate a preview image which is easy to search and confirm the outline. For recording, the capacity of the recording medium can be used effectively.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reliably record a preview image without forgetting it. According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to the effects of the first aspect, an original still image obtained by imaging is recorded on a recording medium such as a memory card or a floppy disk. In doing so, a preview image can be created from the original image under arbitrary conditions and recorded together, and the original image can be easily searched and the outline confirmation can be easily performed from the recorded preview image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional circuit configuration according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing contents of the operation according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a view exemplifying a general preview image creation method.

[Description of Signs] 11 ... Image data 12 ... Image recording control unit 13 ... Frame memory 14 ... Display unit 15 ... Preview setting unit 16 ... Position setting unit 17 ... Size setting unit 18 ... Recording medium

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for recording an original image and a preview image which is a partial image of the original image, comprising: condition setting means for setting conditions for generating the preview image; And a recording control means for generating and recording a preview image in accordance with the conditions described above. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said condition setting means sets a position of the preview image with respect to the original image. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said condition setting means sets a size of the preview image with respect to the original image. 4. The image processing apparatus, wherein the preview image generated from the original image is data-compressed and recorded, and the condition setting means arbitrarily variably sets a data compression ratio of the preview image, and the recording control means 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is recorded after the preview image is data-compressed according to the data compression ratio set by the condition setting means. 5. The pixel processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording control means simultaneously records an original image together with a preview image. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is a digital still camera that captures and records a subject image as still image data.