JP2000312329A - Image processing apparatus, image processing system, image processing control method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide an image processing apparatus capable of always confirming a captured image in a good state for a user. SOLUTION: Recording means 200 and 210 record the posture state of the apparatus 100 at the time of photographing detected by the posture detecting means 106 together with photographed image data on a recording medium. When reproducing and displaying the recorded data, the image rotating means 20
This device 10 at the time of reproduction detected by the posture detecting means 106
Based on the determination result as to whether or not the posture state of 0 and the posture state at the time of photographing recorded together with the photographed image data, the photographed image data is displayed in the correct direction. A rotation process is performed, and a scaling process is performed so that the entire image is displayed even when the image is rotated and displayed.

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 for capturing, recording, and reproducing a still image and a moving image, an image processing method, and processing steps for executing the image processing device, which are readable by a computer. It relates to a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, as an image processing apparatus,
Electronic cameras for recording and reproducing still images and moving images using a memory card having a solid-state memory element as a recording medium are already on the market. In addition, electronic cameras equipped with an electronic finder such as a color liquid crystal panel have already been sold. According to these conventional electronic cameras, a function of continuously displaying images before photographing enables a user to determine a photographing composition, and a function of reproducing and displaying photographed images. Thus, the user can check the captured image.

[0003] In particular, in an electronic camera in which a lens can be exchanged, a function of continuously displaying an image before photographing according to a lens selected by the user of the electronic camera according to the purpose of photographing allows the user to use the camera. The photographing composition can be determined, or the user can confirm the photographed image by a function of reproducing and displaying the photographed image. Such a function of the electronic camera is a useful function for the user.

[0004]

However, in an image processing apparatus such as an electronic camera as described above, for example, at the time of photographing, the apparatus is tilted by approximately 90 ° to take a picture in a vertical position, and the picture is obtained. When a captured image is reproduced and displayed on the image display means provided on the back of the apparatus as the original horizontal position of the apparatus, the vertical and horizontal directions of the image differ by 90 °. For this reason, there is a problem that it is very inconvenient for the user to check the captured image.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, tag information indicating the vertical and horizontal shooting directions is added to a captured image, and when the captured image is reproduced, the tag information is added according to the tag information added to the captured image. A method of reproducing and displaying the captured image with the vertical and horizontal display directions aligned may be considered.

However, according to the above-described method, when a photographed image is confirmed immediately after photographing, since tag information has not been added (set) to the photographed image, the photographed image is reproduced. When the image is displayed on the image display means provided on the back of the image processing apparatus, the vertical and horizontal directions of the captured image are different from each other by 90 °, similarly to the above-described conventional image processing apparatus.

[0007] Further, since the display is generally horizontally long, for example, when playing back an image taken with the electronic camera in portrait orientation, the display is rotated by 90 ° using the above-described tag and displayed. When the image is reduced to fit, the displayed image becomes smaller, which may be very difficult to see. That is, some users may want to rotate the electronic camera to check a large image.

[0008] In consideration of the above case, even the above method is very inconvenient for the user to check the photographed image, and the image is simply obtained according to the posture of the photographing apparatus at the time of photographing. By simply rotating, it is not possible to provide a sufficiently convenient function.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve all or at least one of the above problems. The present invention has at least the following objects (1) to (7). (1) It is possible to easily reproduce or display photographed image data corresponding to a posture at the time of photographing of the image processing apparatus. (2) According to the attitude of the image processing apparatus at the time of reproduction, reproduction or display can be performed conveniently. (3) It is possible to appropriately reproduce or display the image data in accordance with the photographing posture state information of the image data and the posture state information of the image processing apparatus during reproduction. (4) The user can select whether or not to perform a process according to the posture state information. (5) Immediately after photographing, photographed image data corresponding to the posture of the image processing apparatus at the time of photographing can be reproduced or displayed in a convenient manner. (6) Immediately after photographing, reproduction or display can be performed with ease according to the attitude of the image processing apparatus at the time of reproduction. (7) It is possible to appropriately reproduce or display the image data in accordance with the photographing posture state information of the image data and the posture state information of the image processing apparatus during reproduction.

[0010]

For such a purpose,
A first invention is an image processing apparatus that performs a recording process and a reproduction process of photographed image data obtained by an imaging unit on a recording medium, and detects a posture state of the image processing device during photographing and reproduction. Detecting means; recording means for recording the posture state information at the time of photographing obtained by the posture detecting means together with photographed image data obtained by the photographing on the recording medium; photographed image data recorded on the recording medium Image rotation means for performing image rotation processing on
Image scaling means for performing image scaling processing on captured image data recorded on the recording medium, posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detection means, and a photographing state recorded on the recording medium Reproducing means for controlling the image scaling process and the image rotation process of the photographed image data recorded on the recording medium together with the photographing posture state information based on the posture state information, and performing a reproducing process. Features.

According to a second aspect, in the first aspect,
Determining means for determining whether or not the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detecting means and the photographing posture state information of the imaging means recorded on the recording medium match.
Based on the determination result of the determination unit, the image scaling process and the image rotation process of the captured image data recorded on the recording medium and the captured image data recorded on the recording medium are controlled by the reproduction unit. And display control means for displaying any of the photographed image data on the display means.

[0012] In a third aspect based on the second aspect,
The display control means, when the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detection means does not match the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium in the determination means, The controlled captured image data is displayed on a display means.

[0013] In a fourth aspect based on the first aspect,
The recording means and the reproducing means further include a mode setting means for setting an operation mode for performing or not performing a process based on the posture state information obtained by the posture detecting means at the time of image recording or image reproduction. And

According to a fifth aspect, in the second aspect,
The attitude detecting means detects at least whether the imaging means is in a vertical composition shooting attitude state or a horizontal composition shooting attitude state, and the image rotation processing includes the vertical composition shooting attitude state and the horizontal composition shooting attitude state. And a process of rotating the photographed image data so that the image is displayed on the display means in a direction corresponding to any of the above.

[0015] In a sixth aspect based on the first aspect,
The photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data.

[0016] In a seventh aspect based on the first aspect,
The scaling means performs scaling so that the entire image is displayed on the display means.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup means, a display means for displaying picked-up image data from the image pickup means or image data being reproduced, an attitude detecting means for detecting an attitude state of the image pickup means, Recording means for recording an image taken by the imaging means on a recording medium together with the posture state information of the imaging means detected by the detection means; and a reproduction mode for reproducing an image read from the recording medium, the posture state information In the quick review mode in which the read image is rotated and displayed on the display means according to the above, and the captured image is displayed for a predetermined time immediately after the image capturing, the image is displayed regardless of the posture state information. The image processing apparatus is provided with display control means for controlling display without rotation.

According to a ninth aspect, in the eighth aspect,
Determining means for determining whether or not the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detecting means and the photographing posture state information stored in the storage means coincide with each other; Image rotation means for performing image rotation processing on the captured image data stored in the storage means in association with the photographing posture state information based on the photographing posture state information. Based on the result, control is performed so as to display any one of the photographed image data stored in the storage unit and the photographed image data stored in the storage unit that has been subjected to image rotation processing by the image rotation unit. It is characterized by doing.

In a tenth aspect based on the eighth aspect, the attitude detecting means detects at least whether the imaging means is in a vertical composition shooting attitude state or a horizontal composition shooting attitude state, and the image rotation is performed. The means rotates the photographed image data so that the display means displays an image in a direction corresponding to one of the vertical composition photographing posture state and the horizontal composition photographing posture state.

In an eleventh aspect based on the eighth aspect, the photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data.

A twelfth aspect of the present invention is an image processing apparatus for performing a recording process and a reproducing process of photographed image data obtained by an image pickup means on a recording medium, wherein the posture of the image processing device during photographing and reproducing is determined. Attitude information input means for inputting information to be shown, recording means for recording the posture state information at the time of photographing input by the posture information input means together with photographed image data obtained by the photographing, on the recording medium, Image rotation means for performing image rotation processing on photographed image data recorded on a medium; image magnification means for performing image magnification processing on photographed image data recorded on the recording medium; Recording the posture state information at the time of reproduction based on the posture state information at the time of reproduction input by the means and the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium. Characterized in that the scaling process of the photographed image data recorded in the body is an image processing apparatus comprising a reproducing means for controlling the rotation process perform the reproduction process.

According to a thirteenth aspect, there is provided an image pickup means, a display means for displaying the image data from the image pickup means or the image data being reproduced, and a posture information inputting means for inputting information indicating a posture state of the image pickup means. Means, together with the posture state information of the imaging means input by the posture information input means,
A recording unit for recording an image captured by the imaging unit on a recording medium; and a reproducing mode for reproducing an image read from the recording medium, wherein the display unit rotates the read image in accordance with the posture state information. Display control means for controlling the image to be displayed without rotating, regardless of the posture state information, in the quick review mode in which the captured image is displayed for a predetermined time immediately after the image capturing. An image processing apparatus comprising the same.

A fourteenth invention is an image processing system in which a plurality of devices are communicably connected, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices is the one according to any one of claims 1 to 13. It has a function of an image processing device.

A fifteenth aspect of the present invention is an image processing method for performing a recording process and a reproducing process of image data obtained by an image pickup means on a recording medium, wherein the posture state of the image pickup means at the time of photographing and reproduction is determined. A posture detection step of detecting, a recording step of recording the posture state information at the time of photographing obtained by the posture detection step together with photographed image data obtained by the photographing, on the recording medium, and a recording step of recording the posture state information on the recording medium. An image rotation step of performing image rotation processing on captured image data, an image magnification step of performing image magnification processing on captured image data recorded on the recording medium, and a reproduction obtained by the attitude detection step Based on the posture state information at the time, and the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium, the recording medium together with the photographing posture state information The image scaling processing of the recorded captured image data and by controlling the above image rotation processing, characterized in that it comprises a regeneration step of performing reproduction processing.

In a sixteenth aspect based on the fifteenth aspect, it is determined whether the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained in the posture detecting step matches the posture state information at the time of photographing recorded on the recording medium. A determining step of determining whether or not the captured image data recorded on the recording medium and the captured image data recorded on the recording medium are controlled by the reproducing step based on the determination result in the determining step. A display control step of displaying any of the captured image data on a display means, wherein the image rotation step and the image scaling step each include a step of executing a process based on a result of the determination in the determination step. Features.

In a seventeenth aspect based on the fifteenth aspect, in the recording step and the reproducing step,
The method further includes a mode setting step of setting an operation mode for determining whether to perform a process based on the posture state information obtained in the posture detection step.

An eighteenth invention is characterized in that, in the fifteenth invention, a display step of displaying photographed image data in a storage means in which the recording data in the recording step is stored.

In a nineteenth aspect based on the sixteenth aspect, the posture detecting step includes a step of detecting at least whether the imaging means is in a vertical composition photographing posture state or a horizontal composition photographing posture state. The image rotation step is
The method further comprises a step of rotating the photographed image data so that the display means displays in a direction corresponding to one of the vertical composition photographing posture state and the horizontal composition photographing posture state.

In a twentieth aspect based on the fifteenth aspect, the photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data.

According to a twenty-first aspect, in the fifteenth aspect, the recording step and the reproducing step include:
The method further includes a mode setting step of setting an operation mode for performing or not performing a process based on the posture state information obtained in the posture detection step at the time of image recording or image reproduction.

A twenty-second invention is characterized in that, in the fifteenth invention, the image scaling step includes a step of scaling so that the entire image is displayed on the display means.

According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image capturing step of capturing an image by the image capturing means, a display step of displaying the captured image data obtained during the image capturing step or the image data being reproduced, and detecting a posture of the image capturing means. A posture detecting step, a storing step of storing the captured image data obtained in the imaging step together with the posture state information of the imaging unit detected in the posture detecting step, and an image read from the storage unit. In the playback mode in which the read image is rotated, the read image is rotated and displayed on the display means in accordance with the posture state information, and the captured image is kept in the display state for a predetermined period immediately after the shooting, in the quick review mode. A display control step for controlling the display so that the image is displayed without rotating, regardless of the posture state information. Characterized in that an image processing method including and.

In a twenty-fourth aspect based on the twenty-third aspect, it is determined whether or not the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detecting step matches the posture state information at the time of photographing stored in the storage means. And an image rotation step of performing an image rotation process on the photographed image data stored in the storage means in association with the photographing posture state information based on a result of the decision in the decision step. The display control step further includes: capturing the captured image data stored in the storage unit and the captured image data stored in the storage unit based on the determination result in the determination step by the image rotation step. The method includes a step of controlling to display any of the captured image data subjected to the image rotation processing.

In a twenty-fifth aspect based on the twenty-fourth aspect, the posture detecting step includes a step of detecting at least whether the imaging means is in a vertical composition photographing posture state or a horizontal composition photographing posture state. The image rotation step is
The method further comprises a step of rotating the photographed image data so that a display is performed in a direction corresponding to one of the vertical composition photographing posture state and the horizontal composition photographing posture state.

In a twenty-sixth aspect based on the twenty-third aspect, the photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data.

According to a twenty-seventh aspect, a computer can read a processing program for implementing the functions of the image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or the functions of the image processing system according to claim 14. It is characterized by being a storage medium in which it is stored.

According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the present invention, a computer readable storage medium stores the processing steps of the image processing method according to any one of claims 15 to 26.

Specifically, for example, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the attitude information input means for inputting information indicating the attitude state of the image processing apparatus at the time of shooting and playback, and the attitude information input means Recording means for recording the input posture state information at the time of photographing on a recording medium together with photographed image data obtained by the photographing, and image rotation for performing image rotation processing on the photographed image data recorded on the recording medium Means, image scaling means for performing image scaling processing on photographed image data recorded on the recording medium, posture state information at the time of reproduction inputted by the posture information input means, and recording on the recording medium On the basis of the photographing posture state information thus obtained, the reproduction processing is performed by controlling the scaling processing and the rotation processing of the photographed image data recorded on the recording medium together with the photographing posture state information. The image processing apparatus is disclosed having a reproduction means.

Further, the posture detecting means for detecting the posture state of the image processing apparatus at the time of photographing and reproduction, and the posture state information at the time of photographing obtained by the above posture detecting means are stored in photographed image data obtained by the photographing. Recording means for recording the image data recorded on the recording medium, image rotation means for performing image rotation processing on the image data recorded on the recording medium, and image scaling processing on the image data recorded on the recording medium. Image magnification means for performing, the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detection means, and the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium, together with the photographing posture state information, the recording medium There is disclosed an image processing apparatus having reproduction means for performing a reproduction process by controlling a scaling process and a rotation process of photographed image data recorded in an image processing apparatus.

With the above configuration, the photographed image data corresponding to the posture of the image processing apparatus at the time of photographing can be reproduced or displayed with ease of use. Also, according to the attitude of the image processing apparatus at the time of reproduction, it is possible to conveniently reproduce or display.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the image processing apparatus, the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detecting means and the photographing posture state recorded on the recording medium Determining means for determining whether or not the information matches, based on the determination result by the determining means, the captured image data recorded on the recording medium, and the captured image data recorded on the recording medium, There is disclosed an image processing apparatus comprising: display control means for displaying any of the photographed image data controlled by the reproduction means on a display means.

With the above arrangement, the image data can be reproduced or displayed appropriately in accordance with the photographing posture state information of the image data and the posture state information of the image processing apparatus during reproduction.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the image processing apparatus, whether the recording means and the reproducing means perform processing based on posture state information obtained by the posture detecting means An image processing apparatus further comprising a mode setting means for setting an operation mode of whether or not the image processing apparatus is disclosed.

With the above configuration, the user can select whether or not to perform the processing according to the posture state information.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image pickup means, the display means for displaying the image data from the image pickup means or the image data being reproduced, and the attitude of the image pickup means (image processing apparatus) Information inputting means for inputting information indicating the position information, recording means for recording an image taken by the image pickup means on a recording medium together with the posture state information of the image pickup means inputted by the attitude information input means, and the recording medium In the reproduction mode for reproducing the image read from the camera, the read image is rotated and displayed on the display means according to the posture state information, and the photographed image is kept in the display state for a predetermined time immediately after the photographing. In the quick review mode, a display control unit that controls to display an image without rotating the image regardless of the posture state information is disclosed.

The image pickup means, a display means for displaying the image data from the image pickup means or the image data being reproduced, an attitude detecting means for detecting the attitude of the image pickup means (image processing apparatus), Recording means for recording an image taken by the image pickup means on a recording medium together with the posture state information of the image pickup means detected by the posture detection means; and a reproduction mode for reproducing an image read from the recording medium. According to the information, the read image is rotated and displayed on the display means, and for a predetermined time immediately after shooting,
In a quick review mode in which a captured image is kept in a display state, a display control unit that controls display of the image without rotating regardless of the posture state information is provided. Is done.

With the above configuration, even immediately after photographing,
It is possible to conveniently reproduce or display photographed image data corresponding to the posture of the image processing apparatus at the time of photographing. In addition, even immediately after shooting, it is possible to easily reproduce or display the image in accordance with the attitude of the image processing apparatus at the time of reproduction.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the image processing apparatus, the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detecting means and the photographing posture information stored in the storage means Determining means for determining whether or not the state information matches; and, based on the determination result by the determining means, the captured image data stored in the storage means in association with the photographing posture state information. Image rotation means for performing image rotation processing, wherein the display control means, based on the determination result by the determination means, captures image data stored in the storage means and captures image data stored in the storage means. An image processing apparatus is disclosed which controls to display any one of the photographed image data obtained by subjecting the image data to image rotation processing by the image rotation means.

According to the above configuration, the image data can be reproduced or displayed properly in accordance with the photographing posture state information of the image data and the posture state information of the image processing apparatus during reproduction.

Further objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments and drawings.

[0051]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment)
For example, the present invention is applied to an image processing apparatus 100 as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, "100" is an image processing apparatus main body, "10" is a photographing lens, and "12" is a shutter having an aperture function. “14” is an image sensor that converts an optical image into an electric signal, and “16” is an A / D converter that converts an analog signal output of the image sensor 14 into a digital signal. "18" indicates the image sensor 14,
It is a timing generation circuit that supplies a clock signal and a control signal to the A / D converter 16 and a D / A converter 26 described later, and is controlled by a memory control circuit 22 and a system control circuit 50 described later.

"20" is an image processing circuit, and A / D
Image processing such as predetermined pixel interpolation processing and color conversion processing is performed on the data from the converter 16 or the data from the memory control circuit 22. Further, the image processing circuit 20 performs a predetermined arithmetic process using image data obtained by imaging. Therefore, although the details will be described later, the image processing circuit 2
The system control circuit 50 controls the exposure control means 40 and the distance measurement control means 42 based on the result of the arithmetic processing of the above processing at 0, and performs TTL (through-the-lens) AF (through-the-lens) control. Auto focus) processing, AE (auto exposure) processing, and EF (flash pre-emission) processing are performed.

The image processing circuit 20 performs predetermined arithmetic processing using image data obtained by imaging, and also performs TTL AWB (auto white balance) processing based on the arithmetic result. Has been made. Further, the image processing circuit 20 is also configured to control an image rotation process and a scaling process described later.

"22" is a memory control circuit.
D converter 16, timing generation circuit 18, image processing circuit 20, image display memory 24 described later, D / A converter 2
6. The memory 30 and the compression / decompression circuit 32 are controlled. Under the control of the memory control circuit 22, the A / D converter 16
Is written to the image display memory 24 or the memory 30 via the image processing circuit 20 and the memory control circuit 22, or the data of the A / D converter 16 is directly written via the memory control circuit 22.

"24" is an image display memory, and "2"
6 "is a D / A converter." 28 "is a TFTLCD.
And the like. The image display unit 28 is supplied with image data for display written in the image display memory 24 via the D / A converter 26 and displays the image data on the screen. If such image display unit 28 sequentially displays image data obtained by imaging, an electronic finder function can be realized. Further, the image display unit 28 can arbitrarily turn on / off the display according to an instruction output from the system control circuit 50.
Therefore, by turning on / off the display on the image display unit 28 as needed, the power consumption of the image processing apparatus 100 can be significantly reduced.

"30" is a memory for storing image data (still image data and moving image data) obtained by shooting, and is used to store a predetermined number of still images and moving images for a predetermined time. It has sufficient storage capacity. This makes it possible to shoot multiple shots continuously,
Even in the case of panoramic photography or the like, high-speed and large-volume image writing can be performed on the memory 30. The memory 30 can also be used as a work area of the system control circuit 50.

"32" is an adaptive discrete cosine transform (AD
A compression / decompression circuit for compressing or decompressing image data by CT or the like, reads the image data stored in the memory 30, performs compression or decompression processing, and writes the processed data to the memory 30.

"40" is an exposure control unit, and "48" is a flash. The flash 48 has a function of projecting AF auxiliary light and a function of controlling flash light. The exposure control unit 40 is a unit that controls the shutter 12 having an aperture function, and also has a flash dimming function in cooperation with the flash 48. "42"
Is a distance measurement control unit that controls the focusing sig of the photographic lens 10, and “44” is a zoom control unit that controls zooming of the photographic lens 10. “46” is a barrier control unit, and “102” is a protection unit that is a barrier. The barrier control unit 46 controls the operation of the protection unit 102.

The exposure control means 40 and the distance measurement control means 4
Numeral 2 is controlled using the TTL method, as described above, and is the result of the operation in the image processing circuit 20 (the result of the predetermined operation performed on the image data obtained by imaging).
Is controlled by the system control circuit 50 based on the

"50" is a system control circuit for controlling the entire image processing apparatus 100, and "52" is a memory for storing constants, variables, programs and the like for operation of the system control circuit 50.

"54" is displayed on a liquid crystal display device that displays an operating state or a message using characters, images, sounds, or the like in accordance with the execution of the program by the system control circuit 50, or on a display unit such as a speaker. It is a corresponding display unit. The display unit 54 is provided singly or plurally at an easily visible position near the operation unit of the image processing apparatus 100.
It is composed of a combination of LCD, LED, sound element and the like. The display unit 54 has a part of its functions installed in an optical viewfinder 104 described later.

Among the display contents of the display unit 54, those displayed on the LCD or the like include, for example, a single shot / continuous shooting display, a self-timer display, a compression ratio display, a recording pixel number display, a recording number display, a remaining image capturing. Available number display, Shutter speed display, Aperture value display, Exposure compensation display, Flash display, Red-eye reduction display, Macro shooting display, Buzzer setting display, Battery remaining battery display, Battery remaining display, Error display, Multi-digit number Information display, recording medium 2 described later
There are display of attachment / detachment status of 00 and 210, landing status of lens unit, communication 1 / F operation display, date and time display, display indicating connection status with external computer, and the like. Also, among the display contents of the display unit 54, the optical finder 1
Examples of the information displayed in the display area 04 include a point display, a shooting ready display, a camera shake warning display, a flash charging display, a flash charging completed display, a shutter speed display, an aperture value display, an exposure correction display, a recording medium writing operation display, Etc. Further, among the display contents of the display unit 54, those displayed on the LED or the like include, for example, a point display, a shooting ready display, a camera shake warning display, a camera shake warning display, a flash charge display, a flash charge completion display, and a recording medium write. There are an operation display, a macro shooting setting notification display, a secondary battery charge state display, and the like. In addition, among the display contents of the display unit 54, those displayed on a lamp or the like include, for example, a self-timer notification lamp. This self-timer notification lamp may be used in common with the AF auxiliary light.

"56" is an electrically erasable and recordable nonvolatile memory, for example, an EEPROM or the like.

"60", "62", "64", "6"
Reference numerals 6 "and" 70 "denote operation units for inputting various operation instructions of the system control circuit 50, and a single or a plurality of combinations of switches, dials, touch panels, pointing by gaze detection, voice recognition devices, and the like. It consists of.

More specifically, "60" is a mode dial switch, which is an automatic shooting mode, a program shooting mode, a shutter speed priority shooting mode, an aperture priority shooting mode, a manual shooting mode, and a depth of focus priority (depth) shooting mode. , Portrait shooting mode, landscape shooting mode,
Each function photographing mode such as a close-up photographing mode, a sports photographing mode, a night scene photographing mode, and a panoramic photographing mode can be switched and set.

Reference numeral "62" denotes a shutter switch SW1, which is turned on during the operation of a shutter button (not shown) to perform AF (auto focus) processing, AE (auto exposure).
Processing, AWB (auto white balance) processing, EF
An instruction to start an operation such as (flash pre-emission) processing is given.

"64" is a shutter switch SW2, which is turned on when the operation of the shutter button (not shown) is completed, and converts the signal output from the image sensor 12 into the A / D converter 2
6, an exposure process of writing as image data in the memory 30 via the memory control circuit 22, a developing process using an operation in the image processing circuit 20 and the memory control circuit 22,
This is for instructing the start of a series of processes such as reading out image data from the memory, performing compression processing in the compression / decompression circuit 32, and writing the data on the recording medium 200 or 210.

"66" is a reproduction mode switch.
Each function mode such as a reproduction mode, a multi-screen reproduction / deletion mode, and a PC connection mode can be set. "68" is a posture mode switch,
The attitude of the image processing apparatus 100 is detected by a camera attitude detection unit 106, which will be described later, and using the result, the detected attitude of the camera is recorded on a recording medium as an image attitude flag together with the captured image at the time of shooting, and read out at the time of reproduction. This is for setting 0N / OFF of a posture mode for performing an operation of switching an image display method according to the image posture flag.

Reference numeral "70" denotes an operation unit including buttons for various operation instructions, a touch panel, and the like. A menu button, a set button, a macro button, a multi-screen playback update button, a flash setting button, a single-shot / continuous Photo / self-timer switching button, menu navigation + (plus)
Button, menu move-(minus) button, playback image move + (plus) button, playback image-(minus) button, shooting image quality selection button, exposure compensation button, date / time setting button, panorama mode shooting and playback A selection / switch button for setting selection and switching of various functions when executing, a decision / execution button for setting and execution of various functions when executing shooting and playback in a panoramic mode, etc., and ON of the image display unit 28 Image display ON / OFF switch for setting / 0FF, quick review ON / OFF switch for setting a quick review function for automatically reproducing image data obtained by shooting immediately after shooting, JPE
CCDR for selecting the compression ratio of G compression or digitizing the signal of the image sensor as it is and recording it on a recording medium
A compression mode switch which is a switch for selecting the AW mode is included.

Reference numeral 72 denotes a power switch, which can be set to switch between power-on and power-off modes. Reference numeral "80" denotes a power control unit, which includes a battery detection circuit, a DC-DC converter, a switch circuit for switching a block to be energized, and the like, and detects whether or not a battery is mounted, the type of the battery, and the remaining battery level. The DC-DC converter is controlled based on the detection result and the instruction of the system control circuit 50, and a required voltage is supplied to each unit including a recording medium for a required period.

"82" and "84" are connectors. “86” is a power supply unit including a primary battery such as an alkaline battery or a lithium battery, a secondary battery such as a NiCd battery, a NiMH battery, and a Li battery, and an AC adapter.

"90" and "94" are interfaces with a recording medium such as a memory card and a hard disk, respectively, and "92" and "96" are connectors for connecting with a recording medium such as a memory card and a hard disk, respectively. It is. “98” is a recording medium attachment / detachment detection unit that detects whether the recording medium 200 or 210 is attached to the connector 92 or 96.

In this embodiment, the interface and the connector for attaching the recording medium are provided in two systems. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the interface and the connector for attaching the recording medium may be singular or plural. The number of systems may be provided. In addition, a configuration may be adopted in which interfaces and connectors of different standards are provided in combination. The interface and the connector may be configured using a standard such as a PCMCIA card or a CF (Compact Flash) card. Interfaces 90 and 94 and connectors 92 and 96 are
When using a card conforming to a standard such as a CMCIA card or a CF (Compact Flash) card, LA
N card, modem card, USB card, IEEE13
94 card, P1284 card, SCSI card 31
By connecting various communication cards such as a communication card such as a PHS, image data and management information attached to the image data can be transferred to and from other peripheral devices such as a computer and a printer.

Reference numeral "104" denotes an optical finder, so that photographing can be performed using only the optical finder 104 without using the electronic finder function of the image display unit 28. Further, the optical viewfinder 104 is provided with some functions of the display unit 54, for example, display functions such as a point display, a camera shake warning display, a flash charge display, a shutter speed display, an aperture value display, and an exposure correction display. ing.

"106" is a camera posture detecting unit.
The posture state of the image processing apparatus 100, that is, the state of the direction of the imaging surface of the imaging element 14 provided in the apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as
By detecting "the posture state of the device"),
It is possible to detect whether the shooting is in the horizontal position shooting or the vertical position shooting.

"110" is a communication unit, and RS232
C, USB, IEEE1394, P1284, SCS
It has various communication functions such as I, modem, LAN, and wireless communication. “112” is a connector for connecting the image processing apparatus 100 to another device by the communication unit 110,
Alternatively, it is an antenna in the case of wireless communication.

"200" is a recording medium such as a memory card or a hard disk. The recording medium 200 includes a recording unit 202 composed of a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, or the like.
An interface 204 with the image processing apparatus 100;
And a connector 206 for connecting to the image processing apparatus 100. “210” is also a recording medium such as a memory card or a hard disk, and a recording unit 212 including a semiconductor memory or a magnetic disk, an interface 214 for the image processing apparatus 100, and a connector for connecting the image processing apparatus 100. 216.

The operation of the image processing apparatus 100 as described above is shown, for example, by the flowcharts of FIGS. That is, the processing programs according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 to 14 are stored in the program memory in advance, and are read and executed by the system control unit 50, so that the image processing apparatus 100 operates as follows. Operate.

[Main Processing: See FIGS. 2 to 6]

First, when the power is turned on such as when the battery is replaced, the system control circuit 50 initializes flags, control variables, and the like (step S101), and resets the image display of the image display unit 28 to 0.
Initially, the FF state is set (step S102). Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 determines the setting position (switch state) of the power switch 66 (step S10).
3).

If the result of determination in step S103 is that the power switch 66 has been set to power off, the system control circuit 50 executes a predetermined end process (step S104). In the predetermined end process, for example, the display of each display unit is changed to the end state, and the barrier of the protection unit 102 is closed by the barrier control unit 46 to protect the imaging unit. Further, necessary parameters including flags and control variables, set values, and set modes are recorded in the nonvolatile memory 56. Further, the image display unit 28 is controlled by the power control unit 80.
Unnecessary power of each unit of the image processing apparatus 100 including the above is shut off. After that, the process returns to step S103, and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S103 is that power switch 66 has been set to power ON, system control circuit 50 determines the setting position of mode dial 60 (step S105).

If the result of determination in step S105 is that the mode dial 60 has been set to a mode other than the photographing mode, the system control circuit 50 executes a predetermined process according to the set mode (step S105). Step S1
06). After performing this process, the process returns to step S103, and the system control circuit 50 again performs the process of determining the setting position of the power switch 66.

If the result of the determination in step S105 is that the mode dial 60 has been set to the photographing mode, the system control circuit 50 controls the power control unit 80 to determine whether the remaining capacity of the power supply 86 composed of a battery or the like or the operating condition is present. It is determined whether there is a problem with the operation of the image processing apparatus 100 (step S107).

If the result of determination in step S107 is that there is a problem, the system control circuit 50 uses the display unit 54 to display a predetermined warning using images and sounds (step S109). Thereafter, the process returns to step S103, and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of determination in step S107 is that there is no problem, the system control circuit 50 determines whether or not the recording medium 20 or 210 is mounted, and then determines whether image data recorded on the recording medium 200 or 210 has been loaded. Obtaining management information, and thereby, the recording medium 200 or 210
It is determined whether or not the operation state has a problem with respect to the operation of the image processing apparatus 100, particularly, with respect to the operation of recording and reproducing image data with respect to a recording medium (Step S10)
8).

In step S108, the system control circuit 50 also obtains the last shooting number Nmax of the image data recorded on the recording medium 200 or 210. The final shooting number Nmax is read from the recording medium 200 or 210 via the connector 92 or 96 and the interface 90 or 94, and stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

If the result of determination in step S108 is that there is a problem, the system control circuit 50 uses the display unit 54 to display a predetermined warning using images and sounds (step S109). Thereafter, the process returns to step S103, and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of determination in step S108 is that there is no problem, the system control circuit 50 uses the display unit 54 to display various setting states of the image processing apparatus 100 using images and sounds (step S110).

In step S110, the image display unit 2
If the image display of No. 8 is 0N, various setting states of the image processing apparatus 100 are displayed by the image and the sound using the image display unit 28 as well.

After executing the processing in step S110, the system control circuit 50 checks the setting state of the attitude mode switch included in the operation unit 70 (step S111). If the attitude mode switch has been set to ON, the attitude mode flag is set. The setting is made (step S112), and if not, the posture mode flag is released (step S113). After setting or canceling such an attitude mode flag, the process proceeds to the next step S121 in FIG.

Here, the state of the posture mode flag is as follows.
It is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. By using the posture mode function according to this, at the time of photographing, the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 is detected, and it is detected whether the photographing is in the horizontal position photographing or the vertical position photographing. At the same time, the posture detection result can be recorded on the recording medium 200 and / or 210 as an image posture flag.

At the time of reproducing an image, the posture of the image processing apparatus 100 is detected to determine whether the image processing apparatus 100 is in a horizontal position or a vertical position, and together with the image data to be reproduced, the recording medium 200 and / or After determining the correspondence between the image orientation flag recorded in 210 and the orientation detection result, the image data to be reproduced is rotated and scaled as necessary, and then the reproduced image data is displayed by the image display means 28. It becomes possible.

Further, in accordance with the direction of the display means 28, a scaling process is performed so that the entire image is displayed. Thus, it is possible to prevent a disadvantage that a part of the image is not displayed due to the rotation processing.

After the posture mode flag is canceled or set as described above, in step S121 (see FIG. 3)
The system control circuit 50 sets the reproduction mode switch 66 to O
It is determined whether it is N or 0FF. If the result of this determination is that it has been set to OFF, the next step S12
The process from step 2 is skipped, and the process directly proceeds to step S127 described later.

If the result of determination in step S121 is that the reproduction mode switch 66 has been set to ON, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the reproduction mode flag (step S122). If the result of this determination is that the playback mode flag is ON (set), the next step S123
Are skipped, and the process directly proceeds to step S127 described later.

If the result of determination in step S122 is that the playback mode flag is OFF (canceled), that is, if it is determined that the playback mode flag is to be newly executed, the system control circuit 50 sets the playback mode flag to It is set (step S123).

The state of the reproduction mode flag is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 makes a predetermined setting necessary for executing the reproduction mode (step S124), and is read out in step S108 to read the internal memory or the memory 52 of the system control circuit 50.
Is read out (step S125), the reproduction image number N is set to N = Nmax (step S126), and the process proceeds to the next step S127.

Note that the reproduced image number N is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.
As a result, immediately after executing the reproduction mode, it is possible to read out and display the last captured image data without performing image selection using the image selection key, which is convenient for the user.

In step S127, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the reproduction mode flag is ON or 0FF. As a result of this determination, the reproduction mode flag is set to O
If it is N (setting), step S18 of FIG.
Proceed to 1.

If the result of determination in step S127 is that the reproduction mode flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 turns on the quick review included in the operation unit 70.
Check the setting state of the / OFF switch (step S12
8). As a result, if the quick review is set to ON, the system control circuit 50 sets the quick review flag (step S129), otherwise, the system control circuit 50 clears the quick review flag (step S130). .

The state of the quick review flag is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

After setting or canceling the quick review flag, the system control circuit 50 checks the setting state of the image display ON / OFF switch included in the operation unit 70 (step S131).

As a result of step S131, if the image display is set to 0N, the system control circuit 50 sets the image display flag (step S132) and sets the image display of the image display unit 28 to the ON state (step S132). Step S
133) Further, a through display state for sequentially displaying the captured image data is set (step S134), and the process proceeds to the next step S141 in FIG.

In the through display state, the data sequentially written to the image display memory 24 via the image pickup device 14, the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, and the memory control circuit 22 are stored in the memory. Control circuit 22, D / A converter 2
The electronic viewfinder function is realized by sequentially displaying the image on the image display unit 28 via the display 6.

As a result of step S131, the image display is turned off.
If the value is set to "1", the system control circuit 50 clears the image display flag (step S135), and sets the image display of the image display unit 28 to the OFF state (step S136). Proceed to S141.

When the image display is OFF, the photographing is performed using the optical viewfinder 104 without using the electronic viewfinder function of the image display unit 28. In this case, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the image display unit 28, the D / A converter 26, and the like that consume a large amount of power. The state of the image display flag is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

In step S141 (see FIG. 4), the system control unit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW1. As a result, if the shutter switch SW1 is not pressed, the process returns to step S103 (see FIG. 2), and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of step S141 is that the shutter switch SW1 has been pressed, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the attitude mode flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S141). S142). If the result of this determination is that the attitude mode flag is OFF (released), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S143 and proceeds directly to step S144.

If the result of determination in step S142 is that the attitude mode flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 detects the attitude state of the image processing apparatus 100, and the It detects which state of the vertical position photographing, and executes a posture detecting process of setting an image posture flag according to the state of the image to be photographed (step S143). The details of the posture detection processing here will be described later.

In step S144, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.
If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 proceeds to the next step S14.
Step 5 is skipped, and the process proceeds directly to step S146.

If the result of determination in step S144 is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 5
0 sets the display state of the image display unit 28 to the freeze display state (step S145), and proceeds to the next step S146.
Proceed to.

In the freeze display state, rewriting of image data in the image display memory 24 via the image sensor 12, the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, and the memory control circuit 22 is prohibited. The written image data is
By displaying the image on the image display unit 28 via the memory control circuit 22 and the D / A converter 26, the frozen image is displayed on the electronic finder.

In step S146, the system control circuit 50 performs a distance measurement process, focuses the photographing lens 10 on the subject, performs a photometry process, and determines an aperture value and a shutter time.

In the photometric processing, setting of a flash is performed if necessary. The details of the distance measurement and photometry processing here will be described later.

After performing the distance measurement and the photometry processing, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S147). If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is OFF (released), the system control circuit 5
If the value is 0, the next step S148 is skipped, and the process proceeds directly to step S149.

If the result of determination in step S147 is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 5
If "0", the display state of the image display unit 28 is set to the through display state (step S148), and the flow advances to the next step S149.

The through display state is determined in step S1.
This is the same operation state as the through state at 34.

In step S149, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW2. As a result, when the shutter switch SW2 is not pressed, the system control circuit 50
1 is checked (step S158). As a result, when the shutter switch SW1 is not pressed, that is, when the shutter switch SW2 is not pressed and the shutter switch SW1 is also released,
Returning to step S103 (see FIG. 2 above), the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of step S149 is that the shutter switch SW2 has been pressed, the system control circuit 50
Is the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 5
Then, the state of the image display flag stored in 2 is determined (step S150). As a result of this determination, the image display flag is set to O
If it is FF (release), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S151 and proceeds directly to step S161 in FIG.

If the result of determination in step S150 is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 5
0 sets the display state of the image display unit 28 to the fixed color display state (step S151), and proceeds to step S1 of FIG.
Proceed to 61.

In the fixed color display state, instead of the photographed image data written in the image display memory 24 via the image pickup device 12, the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, and the memory control circuit 22, Then, the fixed color image data is displayed on the electronic finder by displaying the replaced fixed color image data on the image display unit 28 via the memory control circuit 22 and the D / A converter 26.

In step S161 (see FIG. 5), the system control circuit 50 controls the imaging device 12, the A / D converter 1
6, via the image processing circuit 20 and the memory control circuit 22,
Alternatively, the exposure processing for writing the photographed image data to the memory 30 directly from the A / D converter 16 via the memory control circuit 22, and the memory 30 using the memory control circuit 22 and, if necessary, the image processing circuit 20. In addition, a photographing process including a process of reading out the image data written in and performing various processes is executed. Details of the photographing process here will be described later.

After executing the photographing process in step S161,
The system control circuit 50 determines the state of the posture mode flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S162). If the result of this determination is that the posture mode flag is OFF (released), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S163 and proceeds directly to step S164.

If the result of determination in step S162 is that the posture mode flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 stores the image / posture flag set in the posture detection processing in step S143 in the memory in the photographing processing in step S161. The data is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 in association with the photographed image data written in the memory 30 (step S163). Thereafter, the process proceeds to the next step S164.

At step S164, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.
If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 proceeds to the next step S165
Is skipped and the process proceeds directly to step S166.

If the result of determination in step S164 is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the quick review flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. (Step S165). If the result of this determination is that the quick review flag is ON (set), the process proceeds to the next step S166; otherwise, the process from the next step S166 is skipped and the process directly proceeds to step S172 described later. move on.

In step S166, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the attitude mode flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. When the posture mode flag is OFF (canceled) as a result of this determination, the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S167 and proceeds to step S168.
Proceed to.

When the posture mode flag is ON (set) as a result of the determination in step S166, the system control circuit 50 detects the posture state of the image processing device 100, and thereby the image processing device 100 Detects the state of the vertical position shooting, and rotates the image data as necessary based on the relationship with the image attitude flag corresponding to the image data stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. An image posture corresponding process for performing a process and a scaling process is executed (step S167). Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S168. The details of the image orientation correspondence processing here will be described later.

In step S168, the system control circuit 50 writes the image data written in the memory 30 by the photographing process in step S161 and subjected to the rotation process and the scaling process as needed in the image posture correspondence process in step S167. Is read out and transferred to the image display memory 24 via the memory control circuit 22 to execute display image processing. The details of the display image processing here will be described later.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S16).
9). As a result of this determination, the image display flag is ON (set)
Is satisfied, the system control circuit 50 proceeds to the next step S
Step 170 is skipped, and the process directly proceeds to step S171.

If the result of determination in step S169 is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 sets the image display on the image display unit 28 to the 0N state (step S170), and The process proceeds to S171.

At step S171, the system control circuit 50 performs a quick review display. In this case, the image display unit 28 is always displayed as an electronic finder even during shooting, and a quick review display immediately after shooting is also performed.

As described above, even if the image display of the image display unit 28 is set to OFF, the electronic viewfinder function is not required for power saving or because the photographing is performed using the optical viewfinder 104. If the quick review function is set by the quick review switch, the photographed image can be automatically reproduced on the image display section 28 immediately after the photographing is performed, which is a power saving and convenient function for confirming the photographed image. Can be provided.

Further, the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 is detected, and the rotation processing and the scaling processing of the image data are performed as necessary based on the relationship between the detected result and the image posture flag associated with the photographed image. By performing the quick review display after the execution, the image data can be displayed in a direction corresponding to the attitude of the image processing apparatus 100.

If the image display flag is cleared (see step S164) and the quick review flag is also cleared (see step S165), the image display unit 2
The process proceeds to step S172 while 8 is OFF. In this case, even after photographing, the image display unit 28
Has disappeared and no quick review is shown. This is a usage method in which it is not necessary to confirm a shot image immediately after shooting, as in a case where shooting is continued using the optical viewfinder 104, and the power saving is emphasized without using the electronic viewfinder function of the image display unit 28. .

In step S172, the system control circuit 50 reads the captured image data written in the memory 30, performs various image processing using the memory control circuit 22 and, if necessary, the image processing circuit 20, and An image compression process according to the mode set by using the compression / expansion circuit 32 is performed. The details of the image compression processing here will be described later.

Thereafter, the system control circuit 50 performs a recording process for writing image data to the recording medium 200 or 210 such as a memory card or a compact flash card via the interface 90 or 94 and the connector 92 or 96. Execute (Step S17)
3).

When the image display unit 28 is ON, while the image data is being written to the recording medium 200 or 210, a message such as "BUSY" is displayed to indicate that the writing operation is being performed. To the image display unit 28
Do for Further, in the display unit 54, for example,
A recording medium writing operation display such as blinking of an LED is also performed.

After the execution of the recording process in step S173,
The system control circuit 50 determines the state of the posture mode flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S174). If the result of this determination is that the attitude mode flag is OFF (released), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S175 and proceeds directly to step S152 in FIG.

If the result of determination in step S174 is that the attitude mode flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 associates the image data with the photographed image data in step S163, and
2 is read out, and the image orientation flag is read from the interface 90 or 94 and the connector 9.
After recording the image data on the recording medium 200 or 210, such as a memory card or a compact flash card, in association with the corresponding captured image data (step S175) via step 2 or 96 (step S175), the process proceeds to step S152 in FIG.

In step S152 (see FIG. 4),
The system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW2. As a result, when the shutter switch SW2 is in the pressed state, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the continuous shooting flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S15).
3) If the continuous shooting flag is ON (set), the process returns to step S161 (see FIG. 5) to perform shooting continuously, and executes the processing for the next shooting. Also,
If the continuous shooting flag is not set, the system control circuit 50 proceeds to steps S152 and S15 until the shutter switch SW2 is released (until the shutter switch SW2 is turned on).
Step 3 is repeated.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in the operation setting state in which the quick review display is performed immediately after shooting,
If the shutter switch SW2 has been pressed when the image attitude flag recording processing in step S172 is completed, the quick review display on the image display unit 28 is continued until the shutter switch SW2 is released. With such a configuration, it is possible to carefully check a captured image.

Then, the shutter switch SW2 has been released, or the shutter switch SW2 has been released.
If the shutter switch SW2 is released after the quick review display is continued to be pressed and the photographed image is confirmed, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the shutter release switch SW2 has been released for a predetermined time (hereinafter referred to as "minimum review time"). ") (Step S154), and then the next step S1
Proceed to 55. In this way, by continuing the quick review display on the image display unit 28 for a predetermined time (minimum review time), it is possible to surely confirm the captured image and to display the quick review display for an unnecessarily long time. It is possible to prevent continuous loss of the next shooting opportunity.

The minimum review time may be a fixed value, may be arbitrarily set by the user, or may be arbitrarily set or selected by the user within a predetermined range. However, any configuration may be used.

At step S155, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the image display flag. As a result, when the image display flag is ON (setting), the system control circuit 50 sets the display state of the image display unit 28 to the through display state (step S156), and proceeds to the next step S1.
Proceed to 58. In this case, after a captured image is confirmed by the quick review display on the image display unit 28, a through display state in which image data captured for the next capturing is sequentially displayed can be provided.

If the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 sets the image display on the image display section 28 to the OFF state (step S15).
7), and proceed to the next step S158. In this case, after confirming the captured image by the quick review display on the image display unit 28, the function of the image display unit 28 is stopped for power saving, and the image display unit 28 and the D / D
The power consumption of the A converter 26 and the like can be reduced.

At step S158, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW1. As a result, when the shutter switch SW1 is in the pressed state, the system control circuit 50 returns to step S149, and executes again the process of checking the state of the shutter switch SW2 to prepare for the next photographing. If the shutter switch SW1 has been released, the system control circuit 50 ends a series of shooting operations, returns to step S103 (see FIG. 2), and again determines the setting position of the power switch 66. Execute the process.

The reproduction mode flag is turned on (set) by the judgment in step S127 (see FIG. 3).
In the case of, the system control circuit 50 executes the processing from the next step S181 in FIG.

That is, first, the system control circuit 50
Is the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 5
After reading the reproduced image number N stored in the storage medium 2 and setting the image data to be reproduced (step S181), the recording medium 20 such as a memory card or a compact flash card is read.
The image data corresponding to the reproduction image number N is read from 0 or 210 via the connector 92 or 96 and the interface 90 or 94, and stored in the memory 30.
A recording medium reading process is executed (step S18)
2). In the recording medium reading process here, the recording medium 2 such as a memory card or a compact flash card is used.
The image attitude flag corresponding to the read image data is also read from the system control circuit 50 through the connector 92 or 96 and the interface 90 or 94 from the internal memory or the memory 5 of the system control circuit 50.
Stored in 2.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 performs image expansion processing on the image data read in step S181 by the image compression / expansion circuit 32 (step S183). The details of the decompression process will be described later.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the attitude mode flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S1).
84). As a result of this determination, the posture mode flag is OFF
In the case of (release), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S185 and proceeds to step S1 as it is.
Proceed to 86.

If the result of determination in step S184 is that the attitude mode flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 detects the attitude state of the image processing apparatus 100, and the Detects which state vertical shooting is in, and, if necessary, rotates and scales the image data based on the relationship with the image posture flag corresponding to the image data read from the recording medium. Execute processing (step S18)
5) Then, the process proceeds to the next step S186. The details of the image orientation correspondence processing here will be described later.

In step S186, the system control circuit 50 writes the data into the memory 30 by the recording medium reading process in step S183, and performs the rotation process and the scaling process as needed in the image orientation correspondence process in step S185. The image data is read out and the image data is transferred to the image display memory 24 via the memory control circuit 22.
To execute display image processing. The details of the display image processing here will be described later.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 sets the image display of the image display section 28 to the ON state (step S1).
87), the display image data transferred in step S186 is read from the image display memory 24, and displayed by the image display unit 28 via the memory control circuit 22 and the D / A converter 26 (step S188).

Then, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SWl. That is, when the playback image is displayed, the shutter switch SW
The state of 1 is checked (step S189).

If the result of step S189 is that the shutter switch SW1 has been released, the system control circuit 50 executes a reproduced image selection process (step S1).
90). The details of the reproduction country image selection process here will be described later.

After completing the reproduction image selection processing in step S190, the system control circuit 50 returns to step S103 (see FIG. 2) and executes processing for again determining the set position of the power switch 66. .

If the result of step S189 is that the shutter switch SW1 has been pressed, that is, if the shutter switch SW1 has been pressed while a reproduced image is being displayed, the system control circuit 50 The state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the control circuit 50 or the memory 52 is determined (step S1).
91). If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S192 and proceeds directly to step S193.
Proceed to.

If the result of determination in step S191 is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 sets the image display on the image display unit 28 to the OFF state (step S192). S193
Proceed to.

In step S193, the system control circuit 50 releases the reproduction mode flag. Then, the system control circuit 50 performs various settings necessary for executing the photographing mode (step S194), and thereafter returns to step S103 (see FIG. 2) and again determines the setting position of the power switch 66. Execute the processing to be performed.

If the switch SW1 is pressed during the image reproduction by the processing from step S189 as described above, the reproduction mode flag is released, and the predetermined setting required for executing the photographing mode is performed. It becomes possible for the processing device 100 to immediately enter a state in which shooting is possible.

[Distance Measurement and Photometry Processing in Step S146 of FIG. 4: See FIG. 7]

First, the system control circuit 50 reads out a charge signal from the image sensor 14 and uses the signal as photographic image data via the A / D converter 16 to generate an image signal.
(Step S201).

The image processing circuit 20 uses the photographed image data sequentially read in step S201 to
(Through the lens) AE (automatic exposure) processing,
Predetermined calculations used for EF (flash pre-emission) processing and AF (autofocus) processing are performed.

In the above-mentioned arithmetic processing, a necessary portion of the total number of photographed pixels is extracted by cutting out necessary portions, and the extracted portion is used for the arithmetic operation. Thereby, TT
In each processing of AE, EF, AWB, and AF of L system,
Optimal calculations can be performed for different modes such as the center-weighted mode, the average mode, and the evaluation mode.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 uses the above-mentioned calculation result in the image processing circuit 20 to perform exposure (AE).
It is determined whether or not is appropriate (step S202).

As a result of the determination in step S202, the exposure (A
If E) is not appropriate, the system control circuit 50 performs AE control using the exposure control means 40 (step S20).
3). Then, the system control circuit 50 determines whether or not a flash is necessary using the measurement data obtained by the AE control (step S204).

If the result of determination in step S204 is that a flash is required, the system control circuit 50 sets a flash flag and charges the flash 48 (step S205). After that, the process returns to step S201, and the system control circuit 50 executes reading of the captured image data again.

If the result of determination in step S204 is that flash is not required, the system control circuit 50
The process of step S205 is skipped, and the process returns to step S201 to read the captured image data again.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S202 is that exposure (AE) is appropriate, the system control circuit 50
Stores the measurement data and / or setting parameters in the internal memory ratio or the memory 52 of the system control circuit 50. Then, the system control circuit 50 controls the image processing circuit 2
It is determined whether the white balance (AWB) is appropriate using the calculation result at 0 and the measurement data obtained by the AE control (step S206).

If the result of determination in step S206 is that the white balance (AWB) is not appropriate, the system control circuit 50 adjusts the color processing parameters using the image processing circuit 20 to perform AWB control (step S20).
7). After that, the process returns to step S201, and the system control circuit 50 executes reading of the captured image data again.

If the result of determination in step S206 is that the white balance (AWB) is appropriate, the system control circuit 50 stores the measurement data and / or setting parameters in the internal memory or the memory 52 of the system control circuit 50. Then, the system control circuit 50 uses the measurement data obtained by the AE control and the AWB control to determine the distance (A
It is determined whether or not F) is in focus (step S20).
8).

As a result of the determination in step S208, the distance measurement (A
If F) is not in focus, the system control circuit 50 performs AF control using the distance measurement control means 42 (step S20).
9). After that, the process returns to step S201, and the system control circuit 50 executes reading of the captured image data again.

As a result of the determination in step S208, the distance measurement (A
When F) is in focus, the system control circuit 50 transmits the measured data and / or the set parameters to the system control circuit 5.
0 in the internal memory or in the memory 52, and the process ends.

As described above, in the distance measurement and the photometry processing, each adjustment is performed until the exposure (AE) and the white balance (AWB) are in an appropriate state and the distance measurement (AF) is in focus. Control processing is performed.

[Shooting Processing in Step S161 of FIG. 5: See FIG. 8]

First, the system control circuit 50 opens the shutter 12 having the aperture function according to the aperture value by the exposure control means 40 in accordance with the photometric data stored in the internal memory or the memory 52 of the system control circuit 50. (Step S301), the image pickup device 14 is exposed (Step S302).

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 determines whether or not the flash 48 is necessary based on the flash flag (step S303). If the result of this determination is that flash 48 is not needed, system control circuit 50
The next step S304 is skipped, and the process proceeds directly to step S305.

If it is determined in step S303 that the flash 48 is necessary, the system control circuit 50 causes the flash to emit light (step S304), and then proceeds to the next step S305.

In step S305, the system control circuit 50 waits for the end of exposure of the image sensor 14 in accordance with the photometric data. When the exposure is completed, the system control circuit 50 closes the shutter 12 (step S306) and outputs a charge signal from the image sensor 14. The data is read out and taken as captured image data via the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, the memory control circuit 22, or directly from the A / D converter 16 to the memory control circuit 2.
2 to the memory 30 (step S30).
7). After a series of these processes, this process ends.

[Display Image Processing in Step S168 of FIG. 5 and Step S186 of FIG. 6: See FIG. 9]

First, the system control circuit 50 determines whether or not frame processing needs to be performed according to the set photographing mode (step S401). As a result of this determination, when it is not necessary to perform the frame processing, the system control circuit 50 skips the processing from the next step S402 and proceeds directly to step S404.

If it is determined in step S401 that frame processing needs to be performed, the system control circuit 50
Memory control circuit 22 and, if necessary, image processing circuit 2
Using 0, the image data written in the memory 30 is read out, the vertical addition processing (step S402) and the color processing (S403) are sequentially executed, and the image data that has been subjected to these processings is written in the memory 30. Thereafter, the process proceeds to the next step S404.

In step S404, the system control circuit 50 reads the image data from the memory 30, and uses the image data as display image data as the memory control circuit 22.
Is transferred to the image display memory 24 via. After a series of these processes, this process ends.

[Compression processing in step S172 of FIG. 5: see FIG. 10]

First, the system control circuit 50 reads out the photographed image data written in the memory 30 by using the memory control circuit 22 and, if necessary, the image processing circuit 20. The pixel square processing for interpolating the vertical and horizontal pixel ratios of the fourteen pixels to 1: 1 is performed (step S501), and the image data after the processing is written to the memory 30.

Then, the system control circuit 50 reads the image data written in the memory 30, and performs an image compression process on the image data according to the set mode by the compression / decompression circuit 32 (S502). When a series of these processes is completed, the present process ends.

[Expansion processing in step S183 of FIG. 6: see FIG. 11]

First, the system control circuit 50
The image data written in "0" is read out, and the image data is subjected to image expansion processing according to the set mode by the compression / expansion circuit 32 (step S601).

The system control circuit 50 uses the memory control circuit 22 and the image processing circuit 20 according to the necessity of fogging to read out the image data of the aspect ratio 1: 1 written in the memory 30 and read the image data. After performing pixel inverse square processing for performing interpolation in accordance with the vertical and horizontal pixel ratios of the image display unit 28 on the data (step S602), the image data after the processing is written to the memory 30. When this series of processes is completed, the present process ends.

[Reproduction image selection processing in step S190 of FIG. 6: see FIG. 12]

First, the system control circuit 50 operates the operation unit 7.
If the “+” key included in the “0” is pressed (step S
701), it is determined whether or not the reproduction image number N is “N = Nmax” (step S702). As a result of this determination, if the current playback image number N is “N = Nmax”, that is, if the “+” key is pressed while the last captured playback image number is selected, system control is performed. The circuit 50 sets the reproduced image number N to “N = 1” and selects the first reproduced image number (step S703), and thereafter ends this processing.

As a result of the determination in step S702, if the current playback image number N is a number other than "N = Nmax", that is, in a state where a playback image number other than the last captured image is selected. If the “+” key is pressed, the system control circuit 50 sets the reproduced image number N to “N =
The next playback image number is selected as "N + 1" (step S704), and then the present processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if the "+" key is not pressed (step S701) and the "-" key included in the operation unit 70 is pressed (step S705), the system control circuit 50
Determines whether the playback image number N is "N = 1" (step S706). As a result of this determination, if the current playback image number N is “N = 1”, that is, if the “−” key is pressed while the first captured playback image number is selected (step S706) ), System control circuit 5
0 sets the playback image number N to "N = Nmax" and selects the playback image number that was captured last (step S70).
7) Then, the present process ends.

As a result of the determination in step S706, if the current reproduced image number N is a number other than "N = 1", that is, in a state where a reproduced image number other than the first photographed image is selected. If the "-" key is pressed (step S706), the system control circuit 50 sets the playback image number N to "N = N-1" and selects the previous playback image number (step S708). This processing ends.

The "+" key is not pressed (step S
701) If the "-" key is not pressed (step S)
705), the system control circuit 50 ends this processing without updating the reproduction image number N.

[Attitude Detection Processing in Step S143 of FIG. 4: See FIG. 13]

First, the system control circuit 50 detects the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 (specifically, the posture state of the image sensor 14) by using the camera posture detection unit 106 (step S801). By detecting the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 by the processing in step S801, it is possible to detect whether the image processing apparatus 100 is in the horizontal position shooting or the vertical position shooting.

As a result of the camera posture detection processing in step S801, if the camera posture is in the V (vertical position) state (step S802), the system control circuit 50 sets the image posture flag to V (vertical position). (Step S80)
4) Then, this processing ends.

On the other hand, if the camera posture is in the H (horizontal position) state (step S802), the system control circuit 5
If the value is 0, the image posture flag is set to H (horizontal position) (step S803), and then the present process ends.

The image attitude flags in steps S803 and S804 are stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or in the memory 52.

[Image Attitude Correspondence Processing in Step S167 of FIG. 5 and Step S185 of FIG. 6: FIG.
4]

First, the system control circuit 50 detects the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 (specifically, the posture state of the image sensor 14) by using the camera posture detecting means 106 (step S901). By detecting the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 by the processing in step S901, it is possible to detect whether the image processing apparatus 100 is in the horizontal position shooting or the vertical position shooting.

As a result of the camera posture detection processing in step S901, if the camera posture is in the V (vertical position) state (step S902), the system control circuit 50 stores it in the internal memory or the memory 52 of the system control circuit 50. The state of the stored image orientation flag is determined (step S90)
3). The image attitude flag is read out together with the image data to be reproduced from the recording medium, and is stored in the internal memory or the memory 52 of the system control circuit 50 while maintaining the correspondence with the reproduced image data. On the other hand, when the quick review is displayed, the image posture flag is set to
In association with the image data written in the memory 30 at the time of photographing, the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 5
2 is stored.

If the result of the determination in step S903 is that the image attitude flag is in the V (vertical) state, that is, if both the camera attitude and the image to be displayed by the image display means 28 are in the V (vertical) state, The processing ends.

When the image orientation flag is in the H (horizontal position) state as a result of the determination in step S903, that is, when the camera posture is in the V (vertical position) state, the image to be displayed by the image display means 28 is H (horizontal position). In the position) state, the system control circuit 50 reads out the image data written in the memory 30, performs a rotation process and a scaling process by the memory control circuit 22, and then writes it in the memory 30. Is performed (step S905). After that, the process ends.

In the scaling process, the scaling process is performed so that the entire image is displayed in accordance with the direction of the display means 28. Thus, it is possible to prevent a disadvantage that a part of the image is not displayed due to the rotation processing.

On the other hand, as a result of the camera posture detection processing in step S901, if the camera posture is in the H (horizontal position) state (step S902), the system control circuit 50
Determines the state of the image orientation flag read out together with the image to be reproduced (S904).

If the result of determination in step S904 is that the image attitude flag is in the H (horizontal position) state, that is, if both the camera attitude and the image to be displayed by the image display means 28 are in the H (horizontal position) state, This processing ends without performing the rotation processing.

If the result of the determination in step S904 is that the image attitude flag is in the V (vertical position) state, that is, the camera attitude is in the H (horizontal position) state, and the image to be displayed by the image display means 28 is V (vertical position). Position), the system control circuit 50 reads out the image data written in the memory 30, performs a rotation process and a scaling process on the image data by the memory control circuit 22, and then stores it in the memory 30. Then, an image rotation process is performed (step S905). After that, the process ends.

In the scaling process, the scaling process is performed so that the entire image is displayed in accordance with the direction of the display means 28. As a result, it is possible to prevent a disadvantage that a part of the image is not displayed due to the rotation processing.

As described above, in the present embodiment, at the time of the photographing operation, the image posture flag indicating the vertical position photographing posture or the horizontal position photographing posture detected by the camera posture detecting unit 106 is obtained by photographing. Is stored in the recording medium 200 or 210 together with the image data, and when the image data is reproduced, it is determined whether the image posture flag associated with the image data matches the current camera posture. If the result of the determination is that they do not match, image rotation processing and scaling processing are performed on the image data. Therefore, the image data is always displayed in the correct direction (the direction that is easy for the user to observe).

In particular, in the present embodiment, the image orientation detection, the association of the image orientation flag with the image data, the storage of the image orientation flag on the recording medium, By executing or prohibiting a process of reading out the stored image orientation flag and determining whether or not it matches the current camera orientation, and, if the result of the determination is not a match, a process of rotating the read image data. It is possible to arbitrarily execute or prohibit a process corresponding to a series of posture detection.

With the configuration of the present embodiment,
For example, an image obtained by photographing the image processing apparatus at a vertical position while tilting the image processing apparatus by approximately 90 degrees during photographing is displayed on an image display unit provided on the back of the image processing apparatus 100 with the image processing apparatus at the original horizontal position during reproduction When playing back and displaying, the image is 9
It does not mean that it is 0 degrees different.

Each time a picture is taken, the camera posture detector 1
A function of automatically holding an image posture flag indicating the vertical position photographing posture or the horizontal position photographing posture detected by 06, and / or the vertical position photographing posture or the horizontal position photographing detected by the camera posture detecting unit 106 each time photographing is performed. The function of automatically storing the image attitude flag indicating the attitude in association with the image data and the image data together with the image data automatically determines whether or not the held and / or stored image attitude flag matches the current camera attitude during reproduction. In response, the image data to be reproduced is rotated as necessary, and the operation of reproducing and displaying the image is automatically performed by the display unit 28. Since the settings have not been made yet, when the images are reproduced and displayed on the image display unit provided on the back of the image processing apparatus, the vertical and horizontal directions of the images differ by 90 degrees. Tsu and thus, is not that.

Further, when performing a quick review display for confirming and displaying a photographed image immediately after photographing, each time photographing is performed,
An image posture flag indicating the vertical position photographing posture or the horizontal position photographing posture detected by the camera posture detecting unit 106 is automatically held, and a quick response is made in accordance with the determination whether the held image posture flag matches the current camera posture. The image data to be displayed for review is rotated as necessary, and the operation for performing quick review display by the display unit 28 is automatically performed. Has not been performed yet, and when reproduced and displayed on the image display unit provided on the back of the image processing apparatus, the vertical and horizontal directions of the image do not differ by 90 degrees.

In the scaling process according to the present embodiment, the scaling process is performed so that the entire image is displayed according to the direction of the display means 28. As a result, it is possible to prevent a disadvantage that a part of the image is not displayed due to the rotation processing.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to solve the problem that it was inconvenient to check a photographed image in the related art, and to improve the operability of the image processing apparatus 100.
Can be provided.

(Second Embodiment) In the present embodiment,
The operation of the image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG.
5 to 19 are performed in accordance with the flowcharts.
That is, the processing programs according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 15 to 19 are stored in the program memory in advance, and are read and executed by the system control unit 50, so that the image processing apparatus 100 operates as follows. Operate.

First, upon power-on such as battery replacement, the system control circuit 50 initializes flags, control variables, and the like (step S1001), and initializes the image display on the image display unit 28 to the OFF state (step S1002). . Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 determines the setting position (switch state) of the power switch 66 (step S100).
3).

If the result of determination in step S1003 is that power switch 66 has been set to power off, system control circuit 50 executes a predetermined end process (step S1004). In the predetermined end process, for example, the display of each display unit is changed to the end state, and the barrier of the protection unit 102 is closed by the barrier control unit 46 to protect the imaging unit. Further, necessary parameters including flags and control variables, set values, and set modes are recorded in the nonvolatile memory 56. Further, unnecessary power of each unit of the image processing apparatus 100 including the image display unit 28 is shut off by the power supply control unit 80. After that, the process returns to step S1003, and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

On the other hand, as a result of the judgment in step S1003,
If the power switch 66 has been set to power ON, the system control circuit 50 determines the setting position of the mode dial 60 (step S1005).

If the result of determination in step S1005 is that mode dial 60 has been set to a mode other than the photographing mode, system control circuit 50 executes predetermined processing according to the set mode (step S1005). Step S
1006). After execution of this processing, the process returns to step S1003, and the system control circuit 50 returns to the power switch 66 again.
Is executed to determine the setting position of the.

If the result of the determination in step S1005 is that the mode dial 60 has been set to the photographing mode, the system control circuit 50 causes the power control unit 80 to determine whether the remaining capacity and operating conditions of the power It is determined whether there is a problem with the operation of the image processing apparatus 100 (step S1007).

If the result of determination in step S1007 is that there is a problem, the system control circuit 50 uses the display unit 54 to display a predetermined warning using images and sounds (step S1009). Thereafter, the process returns to step S103, and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of determination in step S1007 is that there is no problem, the system control circuit 50 determines whether or not the recording medium 20 or 210 is mounted, and then determines whether image data recorded on the recording medium 200 or 210 has been loaded. Acquiring the management information, and thereby, the recording medium 200 or 21
It is determined whether the operation state of 0 has a problem with respect to the operation of the image processing apparatus 100, particularly, with respect to the operation of recording and reproducing image data with respect to a recording medium (step S100).
8).

[0230] In step S1008, the system control circuit 50 also obtains the last shooting number Nmax of the image data recorded on the recording medium 200 or 210. The final shooting number Nmax is read from the recording medium 200 or 210 via the connector 92 or 96 and the interface 90 or 94, and stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

If the result of determination in step S1008 is that there is a problem, the system control circuit 50 uses the display unit 54 to display a predetermined warning using images and sounds (step S1009). Thereafter, the process returns to step S1003, and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of determination in step S1008 is that there is no problem, the system control circuit 50 displays various setting states of the image processing apparatus 100 using images and sounds using the display unit 54 (step S1010). Thereafter, the process proceeds to the next step S1021 in FIG.

In step S1010, if the image display on the image display unit 28 is 0N, the image display unit 28
Is also used to display various setting states of the image processing apparatus 100 using images and sounds.

The processing in FIG. 15 differs from that of the first embodiment in that after the processing in step S1010, the processing for checking the setting state of the attitude mode switch included in the operation unit 70 (the above-described processing). Step S11 in FIG.
1) is not performed.

In the processing from step S1021 (see FIG. 16), the same processing as the processing shown in FIG. 3 is performed. That is, the system control circuit 50 determines whether the reproduction mode switch 66 is ON or 0FF.
If the result of this determination is that it has been set to OFF, the processing from the next step S1022 is skipped and the process proceeds directly to step S1027 to be described later.

If the result of determination in step S1021 is that playback mode switch 66 has been set to ON, system control circuit 50 determines the state of the playback mode flag (step S1022). If the result of this determination is that the reproduction mode flag is ON (set), the next step S10
The process from step 23 is skipped, and the process directly proceeds to step S1027 to be described later.

If the result of determination in step S1022 is that the playback mode flag is OFF (released), that is, if it is determined that the playback mode flag is to be newly executed, the system control circuit 50 sets the playback mode flag to It is set (step S1023).

The state of the reproduction mode flag is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 makes predetermined settings necessary for executing the reproduction mode (step S1024), and then reads out the data in step S108 to read the internal memory or the memory 5 of the system control circuit 50.
2 is read out (step S1025), the reproduction image number N is set to N = Nmax (step S1026), and the next step S102.
Proceed to 7.

The reproduced image number N is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.
As a result, immediately after executing the reproduction mode, it is possible to read out and display the last captured image data without performing image selection using the image selection key, which is convenient for the user.

At step S1027, system control circuit 50 determines whether the reproduction mode flag is ON or 0FF. If the result of this determination is that the playback mode flag is ON (set), step S in FIG.
Proceed to 1081.

If the result of determination in step S1027 is that the playback mode flag is OFF (released), the system control circuit 50
Check the setting state of the N / OFF switch (step S1)
028). As a result, when the quick review is set to ON, the system control circuit 50 sets the quick review flag (step S1029), and otherwise, the system control circuit 50 clears the quick review flag (step S1030). .

Note that the state of the quick review flag is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

After setting or canceling the quick review flag, the system control circuit 50 checks the setting state of the image display ON / OFF switch included in the operation unit 70 (step S1031).

As a result of step S1031, image display 0N
If the value has been set to, the system control circuit 50 sets an image display flag (step S1032),
The image display on the image display unit 28 is set to the ON state (step S1033), and further, the image display is set to the through display state for sequentially displaying the captured image data (step S103).
4) Then, the process proceeds to the next step S1041 in FIG.

In the through display state, the data sequentially written to the image display memory 24 via the image pickup device 14, the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, and the memory control circuit 22 are stored in the memory. Control circuit 22, D / A converter 2
The electronic viewfinder function is realized by sequentially displaying the image on the image display unit 28 via the display 6.

As a result of step S1031, image display OF
If it has been set to F, the system control circuit 50 clears the image display flag (step S1035) and
The image display of the image display unit 28 is set to the OFF state (step S1036), and the process proceeds to the next step S141 in FIG.

When the image display is OFF, the photographing is performed by using the optical viewfinder 104 without using the electronic viewfinder function of the image display unit 28. In this case, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the image display unit 28, the D / A converter 26, and the like that consume a large amount of power. The state of the image display flag is stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52.

In step S1041 (see FIG. 17),
The system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW1. As a result, if the shutter switch SW1 is not pressed, the process returns to step S1003 (see FIG. 15), and the system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of step S1041 is that the shutter switch SW1 has been pressed, the system control circuit 50 detects the attitude of the image processing apparatus 100, and the It detects which state of the image capturing, and executes an attitude detection process of setting an image attitude flag in accordance with the state of the image to be captured (step S1042). The details of the posture detection processing are as described with reference to FIG.

As described above, in the first embodiment, the state of the attitude mode flag is determined after the state of the shutter switch SW1, but in the present embodiment, the state of the attitude mode flag is determined. Instead, the posture detection process is executed as it is. This is because, in the processing shown in FIG. 15, the setting or release processing for the posture mode flag is not executed.

After the processing in step S1042, FIG.
The same processing as the processing from step S144 is performed. That is, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S104).
3). If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S1044 and proceeds directly to step S10.
Proceed to 46.

If the result of determination in step S1043 is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 sets the display state of the image display unit 28 to a freeze display state (step S1044), and Step S1
Proceed to 045.

In the freeze display state, rewriting of image data in the image display memory 24 via the imaging device 14, the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, and the memory control circuit 22 is prohibited. The written image data is
By displaying the image on the image display unit 28 via the memory control circuit 22 and the D / A converter 26, the frozen image is displayed on the electronic finder.

In step S1045, the system control circuit 50 performs a distance measurement process, focuses the photographing lens 10 on the subject, performs a photometry process, and determines an aperture value and a shutter time.

In the photometric processing, setting of a flash is performed if necessary. The details of the distance measurement and the photometry processing here are as described with reference to FIG.

After performing the distance measurement and the photometry processing, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S1046). If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is OFF (released), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S1047 and proceeds directly to step S1048.

If the result of determination in step S1046 is that the image display flag is ON (setting), the system control circuit 50 sets the display state of the image display unit 28 to the through display state (step S1047), and Step S10
Proceed to 48.

The through display state here is the same operation state as the through state in step S1034.

[0260] In step S1048, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW2.
As a result, when the shutter switch SW2 is not pressed, the system control circuit 50 sets the shutter switch S
The state of W1 is checked (step S1057). As a result, when the shutter switch SW1 is not pressed,
That is, if the shutter switch SW2 is not pressed and the shutter switch SWl is also released, the process returns to step S1003 (see FIG. 15).
The system control circuit 50 executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

If the result of step S1048 shows that the shutter switch SW2 has been pressed, the system control circuit 5
0 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S1049). If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50
Skips the next step S1050 and proceeds directly to step S1061 in FIG.

If the result of determination in step S1049 is that the image display flag is ON (setting), the system control circuit 50 sets the display state of the image display unit 28 to a fixed color display state (step S1050). It proceeds to step S1061 in FIG.

Incidentally, in the fixed color display state, instead of the photographed image data written in the image display memory 24 via the image pickup device 14, the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, and the memory control circuit 22, Then, the fixed color image data is displayed on the electronic finder by displaying the replaced fixed color image data on the image display unit 28 via the memory control circuit 22 and the D / A converter 26.

In step S1061 (see FIG. 18),
The system control circuit 50 is connected to the memory control circuit 2 via the image sensor 14, the A / D converter 16, the image processing circuit 20, the memory control circuit 22, or directly from the A / D converter 16.
2 for performing an exposure process for writing the image data captured in the memory 30 and reading the image data written to the memory 30 using the memory control circuit 22 and the image processing circuit 20 as necessary. Development processing,
A photographing process including such a process is executed. The details of the photographing process are as described with reference to FIG.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 associates the image posture flag set in the posture detection processing in step S1042 with the photographed image data written in the memory 30 in the photographing processing in step S1061, and It is stored in the internal memory or the memory 52 (step S1062). As described above, since the posture mode flag is not used here, unconditionally,
The image data and the image orientation flag are associated with each other.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S10).
63). If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S1064 and proceeds directly to step S10.
Proceed to 65.

If the result of the determination in step S 1063 is that the image display flag is OFF (released), the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the quick review flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. (Step S1064). If the result of this determination is that the quick review flag is ON (set), the process proceeds to the next step S1065; otherwise, the process from the next step S1065 is skipped and the process directly proceeds to step S1069 to be described later. move on.

In step S1065, the system control circuit 50 detects the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 (specifically, the posture state of the image pickup device 14) so that the image processing apparatus 100 performs horizontal position photographing or vertical position photographing. Is detected, and rotation processing is performed on the image data as necessary based on the relationship with the image attitude flag corresponding to the image data stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52. The image posture corresponding processing is executed.
For details of the image posture correspondence processing, see FIG.
4 as described above. As described above, since the posture mode flag is not used here, if the image display flag is ON (setting), or if the image display flag is OFF (cancel), the quick review flag is ON (setting). If, the image posture corresponding process is unconditionally performed.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 determines the state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 (step S10).
66). If the result of this determination is that the image display flag is ON (set), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S1067 and proceeds directly to step S10.
Proceed to 68.

If the result of the determination in step S1066 is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 writes the image in the memory 30 by the photographing process in step S1061, and executes the image orientation corresponding process in step S1065. If necessary, the image data that has been subjected to the rotation processing is read out and transferred to the image display memory 24 via the memory control circuit 22 to execute display image processing (step S1067). The details of the display image processing are as described with reference to FIG. Thereafter, the process proceeds to the next step S1068.

At step S1068, the system control circuit 50 performs a quick review display. In this case, the image display unit 28 is always displayed as an electronic finder even during shooting, and a quick review display immediately after shooting is also performed.

As described above, even if the image display of the image display unit 28 is set to OFF, the electronic viewfinder function is not required for power saving or because the photographing is performed using the optical viewfinder 104. If the quick review function is set by the quick review switch, the photographed image can be automatically reproduced on the image display section 28 immediately after the photographing is performed, which is a power saving and convenient function for confirming the photographed image. Can be provided. Also, after detecting the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100 and performing a rotation process on the image data as necessary based on the relationship between the detection result and the image posture flag associated with the captured image, a quick review display is performed. By doing
Image data can be displayed in a direction corresponding to the attitude of the image processing apparatus 100.

If the image display flag has been cleared (see step S1063) and the quick review flag has also been cleared (see step S1064), the process proceeds to step S1069 while the image display unit 28 remains at 0FF. . In this case, even after photographing, the image display section 28 remains off, and quick review display is not performed. This is a usage method in which it is not necessary to confirm a shot image immediately after shooting, as in a case where shooting is continued using the optical viewfinder 104, and the power saving is emphasized without using the electronic viewfinder function of the image display unit 28. .

In step S1069, the system control circuit 50 reads the captured image data written in the memory 30, performs various image processing using the memory control circuit 22 and the image processing circuit 20 as necessary, and An image compression process according to the mode set by using the compression / expansion circuit 32 is performed. For details of this image compression process,
This is as described with reference to FIG.

After that, the system control circuit 50 executes a recording process of writing image data to the recording medium 200 or 210 such as a memory card or a compact flash card via the interface 90 or 94 and the connector 92 or 96. Execute (Step S107)
0).

When the image display unit 28 is ON, while the image data is being written to the recording medium 200 or 210, a message such as "BUSY" is displayed to indicate that the writing operation is being performed. To the image display unit 28
Do for Further, in the display unit 54, for example,
A recording medium writing operation display such as blinking of an LED is also performed.

After the execution of the recording process in step S1070, the system control circuit 50 reads out the image attitude flag stored in the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 52 in association with the photographed image data in step S1062. Posture flag is sent to the interface 90
Alternatively, a recording medium 20 such as a memory card or a compact flash card is
After recording the corresponding photographed image data to 0 or 210 (step S1071), the process proceeds to step S1051 in FIG. As described above, since the posture mode flag is not used here, the image posture flag is recorded without determining the state of the posture mode flag.

The processing from step S1051 (see FIG.
7), the same processing as the processing from step S152 in FIG. 4 is executed. That is, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW2 (step S1051). As a result, the shutter switch S
If W2 is pressed, the system control circuit 50
Is the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 5
2 is determined (step S).
1052) If the continuous shooting flag is ON (set), the process returns to step S1061 (see FIG. 18) to perform shooting continuously, and executes processing for the next shooting. If the continuous shooting flag has not been set, the system control circuit 50 proceeds to step S1051 until the shutter switch SW2 is released (until the shutter switch SW2 is turned on).
And the processing of S1052 is repeated.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in the operation setting state in which the quick review display is performed immediately after shooting,
If the shutter switch SW2 has been pressed when the image attitude flag recording processing in step S1069 is completed, the quick review display on the image display unit 28 is continued until the shutter switch SW2 is released. , It is possible to carefully check the captured image.

Then, the shutter switch SW2 is released, or the shutter switch SW2
If the shutter switch SW2 is released after the quick review display is continued by pressing and the captured image is confirmed, the system control circuit 50 determines that a predetermined time (minimum review time) has elapsed. After that (step S1053), the process proceeds to the next step S1054. In this way, by continuing the quick review display on the image display unit 28 for a predetermined time (minimum review time), it is possible to surely confirm the captured image and to display the quick review display for an unnecessarily long time. It is possible to prevent continuous loss of the next shooting opportunity.

The minimum review time may be a fixed value, may be arbitrarily set by the user, or may be arbitrarily set or selected by the user within a predetermined range. However, any configuration may be used.

[0282] In step S1054, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the image display flag. As a result,
If the image display flag is ON (setting), the system control circuit 50 sets the display state of the image display unit 28 to the through display state (step S1055), and proceeds to the next step S1057. In this case, after confirming the captured image by the quick review display on the image display unit 28,
It is possible to set a through display state in which image data taken for the next shooting is sequentially displayed.

If the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 sets the image display on the image display unit 28 to the OFF state (step S105).
6), proceed to the next step S1057. In this case, after the captured image is confirmed by the quick review display on the image display unit 28, the function of the image display unit 28 is stopped to save power, and the image display unit 28 or D
The power consumption of the / A converter 26 and the like can be reduced.

[0284] In step S1057, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SW1.
As a result, if the shutter switch SW1 is in the pressed state, the system control circuit 50 proceeds to step S104.
8, the process of checking the state of the shutter switch SW2 is executed again to prepare for the next photographing. Also,
When the shutter switch SW1 is released,
After a series of photographing operations, the system control circuit 50 returns to step S1003 (see FIG. 15), and executes the process of determining the set position of the power switch 66 again.

The above-described step S1027 (see FIG. 16)
If the reproduction mode flag is ON (set) as a result of the determination of FIG.
The processing from step S1081 is executed.

That is, first, the system control circuit 50
Is the internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 5
After reading the reproduction image number N stored in the storage medium 2 and setting the image data to be reproduced (step S1081), the recording medium 2 such as a memory card or a compact flash card is read.
The image data corresponding to the reproduced image number N is read from the 00 or 210 via the connector 92 or 96 and the interface 90 or 94, and the recording medium read processing for storing it in the memory 30 is executed (step S10)
82). In the recording medium reading process, the image orientation flag corresponding to the read image data is read from the recording medium 200 or 210 such as a memory card or a compact flash card via the connector 92 or 96 and the interface 90 or 94. The internal memory of the system control circuit 50 or the memory 5
Stored in 2.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 performs image expansion processing on the image data read in step S181 by the image compression / expansion circuit 32 (step S1083). The details of the decompression process are as described with reference to FIG.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 detects whether the image processing apparatus 100 is in the horizontal position shooting or the vertical position shooting by detecting the posture state of the image processing apparatus 100, and Based on the relationship with the image posture flag corresponding to the read image data, an image posture corresponding process of performing a rotation process on the image data is executed as needed (step S1084). As described above, since the posture mode flag is not used here, the image posture correspondence processing is performed without determining the state of the posture mode flag.
The details of the image posture correspondence processing are as described with reference to FIG.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 reads out the image data which has been written into the memory 30 by the recording medium readout processing in step S1083, and has been rotated as necessary by the image orientation correspondence processing in step S1084, and reads out the image data. And the image data is stored in a memory control circuit 2
2 to execute display image processing for transferring the image data to the image display memory 24 via the memory 2. The details of the display image processing are as described with reference to FIG.

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 sets the image display on the image display section 28 to the ON state (step S1).
086), the display image data transferred in step S1085 is read out from the image display memory 24, and is displayed via the memory control circuit 22 and the D / A converter 26.
(Step S1087).

Subsequently, the system control circuit 50 checks the state of the shutter switch SWl. That is, when the playback image is displayed, the shutter switch SW
The state of 1 is checked (step S1088).

If the result of step S1088 is that the shutter switch SW1 has been released, the system control circuit 50 executes a reproduced image selection process (step S10).
1089). For details of this playback image selection process,
This is as described with reference to FIG.

Then, after completing the reproduction image selection processing in step S1089, the system control circuit 50 returns to step S1003 (see FIG. 15), and again executes the processing for determining the set position of the power switch 66. .

If the result of step S1088 is that the shutter switch SW1 has been pressed, that is, if the shutter switch SW1 has been pressed while a reproduced image is being displayed, the system control circuit 50 The state of the image display flag stored in the internal memory of the control circuit 50 or the memory 52 is determined (step S
1090). As a result of this determination, the image display flag is turned on.
In the case of (setting), the system control circuit 50 skips the next step S1091 and directly proceeds to step S1091.
Proceed to 1092.

If the result of the determination in step S1090 is that the image display flag is OFF (canceled), the system control circuit 50 sets the image display on the image display unit 28 to the OFF state (step S1091). S1
Proceed to 092.

At step S1093, the system control circuit 50 releases the reproduction mode flag. Then, the system control circuit 50 performs various settings necessary for executing the photographing mode (step S1093), and thereafter returns to step S1003 (see FIG. 15 described above), and again determines the setting position of the power switch 66. Execute the processing to be performed.

If the switch SW1 is pressed during the image reproduction by the processing from step S1088 as described above, the reproduction mode flag is released, and the predetermined setting required for executing the photographing mode is performed. It becomes possible for the processing device 100 to immediately enter a state in which shooting is possible.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, at the time of the photographing operation, the image posture flag indicating the vertical position photographing posture or the horizontal position photographing posture detected by the camera posture detecting unit 106 is photographed. In association with the obtained image data, the recording medium 200 or 2
10, when the image data is reproduced, it is determined whether or not the image posture flag associated with the image data matches the current camera posture. If the result of the determination is that they do not match, An image rotation process is performed on the image data. Therefore, the image data is always displayed in the correct direction (the direction that is easy for the user to observe).

In particular, in this embodiment, each time an image is taken, the image orientation flag indicating the vertical orientation or the horizontal orientation detected by the camera orientation detection unit 106 is associated with the image data. When a quick review display is performed, which automatically confirms and displays the captured image data immediately after shooting, a process is performed to determine whether the image attitude flag matches the current camera attitude. Instead, the photographed image data temporarily stored in the memory 30 is transferred to the image display memory 24 and is displayed as it is on the display unit 28. On the other hand, when performing the reproduction display, the photographed image data is associated with the photographed image data to be reproduced. Depending on whether the stored image attitude flag matches the current camera attitude, image rotation processing is performed on the captured image data as necessary. I was to automatically perform the operation of displaying the display unit 28. This is because, in the case where the captured image data is displayed by a quick review immediately after photographing and confirmed, the camera posture at the time of photographing is often kept as it is. Therefore, in the present embodiment, unlike the above-described first embodiment, a series of posture mode processes is omitted when the quick review is displayed. Further, the present embodiment has been described as a mode in which a series of posture mode processes at the time of photographing and at the time of reproduction are always executed by omitting the function of the posture mode switch.

Therefore, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, for example, an image obtained by taking an image by tilting the image processing apparatus by approximately 90 degrees at the time of shooting and setting the image processing apparatus to the vertical position at the time of reproduction can be used. When the image is reproduced and displayed on an image display unit provided on the back of the image processing apparatus,
There is no difference. Further, a function of automatically holding an image posture flag indicating a vertical position photographing posture or a horizontal position photographing posture detected by the camera posture detecting unit 196 every time a photograph is taken, or a function of automatically holding a camera posture detecting unit 106 every time a photograph is taken The function of automatically storing an image posture flag indicating the vertical position photographing posture or the horizontal position photographing posture detected with the image data in association with the image data and automatically storing the image data together with the image data in the recording medium during reproduction. The image data to be reproduced is rotated as necessary in accordance with the determination as to whether or not matches the current camera attitude, and the operation of reproducing and displaying the image data is automatically performed by the display unit 28. When displaying and displaying an image, the image display unit provided on the back of the image processing apparatus has not yet been set with the tag information and the like. When playing display Te, the aspect of the image becomes different by 90 degrees, is not that. That is, according to the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, it is possible to solve the problem that it is inconvenient to check a captured image in the related art, and to improve the operability. 100 can be provided.

In the first and second embodiments, it is determined in step S141 in FIG. 4 (step S1041 in FIG. 17 in the second embodiment) that the shutter switch SW1 has been pressed. Step S
At 143 (step S1042 in the second embodiment), the posture detection processing is performed. For example, step S149 (step S10 in the second embodiment) is performed.
In 48), the posture detection process may be performed after it is determined that the shutter switch SW2 has been pressed.
Alternatively, in step S161 of FIG. 5 (in the second embodiment, step S1061 of FIG. 18 in the second embodiment), the posture detection processing may be performed after the photographing processing is performed. With such a configuration, similarly to the first and second embodiments, the captured image and the image attitude flag can be held in association with each other and / or stored in a recording medium.

[0302] Further, the respective configurations in the first and second embodiments may be combined. For example, the setting of the posture mode by the posture mode switch 68 /
The configuration may be such that the release is enabled and the posture mode operation at the time of the quick review display is omitted.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, the posture detection unit 106 automatically detects the posture. However, it is configured that the user inputs a signal indicating the posture. You may do so. For example, a switch in a position suitable for the vertical composition shooting posture and a switch in a position suitable for the horizontal composition shooting posture are provided, and the switch is recognized as a signal indicating the posture of the image processing apparatus according to which switch is operated. You may do so.

Further, for example, a video output unit (not shown) may be further provided in the image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. In this case, when the captured image data is reproduced, a matching state between the image orientation flag associated with the captured image data to be reproduced and the detected camera orientation is determined, and the image data to be reproduced is rotated based on the determination result. After that, the image data is displayed on the image display unit 28. On the other hand, as for the image data to be output to the video output unit, since the monitor television or the like to which the video output unit is connected is always installed in a horizontal state, it is assumed that the camera posture is in the horizontal shooting position state After performing the image rotation processing on the image data to be processed, the image data may be output to the video output unit.

In the first and second embodiments, the image rotation processing is performed in step S905 in the image posture correspondence processing (see FIG. 14).
At the time of performing the scaling process in the first embodiment, according to the respective aspect ratios of the image display unit 28 and the image sensor 14, the necessary enlargement process or reduction process is performed together with the image rotation process. Is also good. For example, the aspect ratio of the image may be compared with the aspect ratio of the display device to change the magnification so that the entire image can be displayed and the largest image can be generated. This makes it possible to prevent a problem that the display state of the image on the image display unit 28 after the image data is rotated is, for example, an image is missing.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, when the image display unit 28 is turned off, all the elements constituting the image display unit 28 are turned off.
For example, a part of the elements of the image display unit 28 may be turned off. For example, when the image display unit 28 includes an LCD and a backlight, only the backlight may be turned off while the LCD is in the ON state.

The image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG.
As a configuration having dedicated image display units for through display and quick review display, the O
N / 0FF may be performed in accordance with the settings of the image display ON / OFF switch and the quick review 0N / OFF switch. Or image display ON / OFF
Switch and quick review 0N / OFF switch, or image display ON / OFF
Even if the configuration does not include any of the switch and the quick review 0N / OFF switch, any configuration may be used.

The recording media 200 and 210 included in the image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 can be used not only for a memory card such as a PCMCLA card or a compact flash, but also for a hard disk, but also for a micro DAT, a magneto-optical disk,
An optical disk such as a CD-R or a CD-WR or a phase-change optical disk such as a DVD may be used. Also,
The recording media 200 and 210 may be configured by a composite medium in which a memory card and a hard disk are integrated. Further, a part of the composite medium may be detachable.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, the recording media 200 and 210 are separated from the image processing apparatus 100 and can be arbitrarily connected. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, any or all of the recording media may be configured to be fixed to the image processing apparatus 100. Further, the image processing apparatus 100 may have a configuration in which one or more arbitrary number of recording media 200 or 210 can be connected.

In the first and second embodiments, the recording media 200 and 210
Is mounted, but it goes without saying that the recording medium may be in a single or plural combination.

An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing program codes of software for realizing the functions of the host and the terminal in the first and second embodiments to a system or an apparatus, Alternatively, it is needless to say that the present invention can also be achieved by a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the apparatus reading out and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the first and second embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, C
DR, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, or the like can be used. The functions of the first and second embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer, and the OS running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the present invention includes a case in which the functions of the first and second embodiments are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing. Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written to a memory provided in an extended function board inserted into the computer or an extended function unit connected to the computer,
Based on the instructions of the program code, a CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the first and second embodiments are realized by the processing. Needless to say, cases are included.

The present invention is not limited to the first and second embodiments, but can be variously modified within the scope shown in the claims.

[0313]

As described above, according to the present invention, at the time of photographing, the posture state of the imaging means (the posture state of the apparatus or system provided with the imaging means) at the time of photographing is detected, and the detection result ( The photographing posture state information) is recorded on a recording medium or stored in a storage unit together with photographed image data obtained at the time of photographing. When reproducing the photographed image data, the posture state of the imaging means at this time is detected, and the detection result (reproduction posture state information) and the photographing posture state information recorded or stored together with the photographed image data are obtained. It is determined whether or not they match. If the result of this determination is that the respective information does not match, image rotation processing or image scaling processing is performed on the captured image data so that the captured image data is displayed in the correct direction. .
As described above, according to the present invention, when the captured image data is displayed at the time of reproduction, the captured image data is always in the correct direction (a direction that is easy for the user who displays and observes the captured image to confirm). It was configured to be displayed on. Thereby, for example, a display means provided on the back of the image processing apparatus with the image processing apparatus as the original horizontal position at the time of reproduction is obtained by taking a photographed image obtained by tilting the image processing apparatus by about 90 degrees at the time of shooting and taking the image in the vertical position. When playing back with,
Since the shot image is rotated by 90 degrees and displayed on the display means, the shot image does not differ in the vertical and horizontal directions by 90 degrees as in the related art.

Also at the time of confirming the photographed image (at the time of confirmation immediately after photographing), the posture state of the image pickup means at that time is detected, and the detection result (confirmation posture state information) and the image pickup state detected at the time of photographing are detected. It is determined whether or not the posture state of the means matches. If the result of this determination is that the respective information does not match, the photographed image data is displayed in the correct direction (for confirmation immediately after photographing). If the image rotation process or the image scaling process is performed so that the image data is displayed, the captured image data can always be displayed in the correct direction even immediately after the image capturing.

If the scaling process is performed together with the rotation process of the image, it is possible to prevent the disadvantage that a part of the image is not displayed due to the rotation process.

In the reproduction mode for reproducing the image read from the recording medium, the read image is rotated and displayed according to the posture state information, and the photographed image is displayed for a predetermined time immediately after the photographing. In the quick review mode, if the image is displayed without rotating regardless of the posture state information, the processing can be simplified and power saving can be achieved, and the user does not need to change the photographing posture. It is possible to smoothly perform re-taking in a case where desired photographing cannot be performed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a photographed image can always be observed in a good state, which is very effective for the user.

Further, as described above, the attitude of the image processing apparatus is detected. The attitude can be automatically detected and the attitude information can be automatically recorded together with the image. This is very effective for omitting user operations. However, even when the user inputs the posture information of the camera, it is needless to say that the photographed image data corresponding to the posture at the time of photographing of the image processing apparatus can be conveniently reproduced or displayed. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows a main process (start to start) in the image processing apparatus.
It is a flowchart for demonstrating B).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (B to C).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (C to E).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (E to F).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (G to A).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a distance measurement and a photometry process of the main process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a photographing process of the main process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a display image process of the main process.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a compression process of the main process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining an extension process of the main process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a reproduced image selection process of the main process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the attitude detection processing of the main processing.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining an image orientation corresponding process of the main process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating main processing (start to B) in the image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (B to C).

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (C to E).

FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (E to F).

FIG. 19 is a flowchart for explaining the main processing (G to A).

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 photographing lens 12 shutter 14 image sensor 16 A / D converter 18 timing generation circuit 20 image processing circuit 22 memory control circuit 24 image display memory 26 D / A converter 28 image display unit 30 memory 32 image compression / decompression circuit 40 exposure Control circuit 42 Distance measurement control circuit 44 Zoom control unit 46 Barrier control circuit 48 Flash 50 System control circuit 52 Memory 54 Display unit 56 Nonvolatile memory 60 Mode dial switch 62 Shutter switch SW1 64 Shutter switch SW2 66 Playback mode switch 68 Attitude mode switch Reference Signs List 70 operation unit 72 power switch 80 power control unit 82 connector 84 connector 86 power supply unit 90 interface 92 connector 94 interface 96 connector 98 recording medium attachment / detachment detection unit 100 image processing Location 102 barrier 104 optical filter 106 camera attitude detection unit 110 communication unit 112 Connector 200 recording medium 202 recording unit 204 interface 206 Connector 210 recording medium 212 recording unit 214 interface 216 connector

Claims (28)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for performing a recording process and a reproduction process of a photographed image data obtained by an image pickup means on a recording medium, wherein the posture detection detects a posture state of the image processing device during photographing and reproduction. Means, recording means for recording the posture state information at the time of photographing obtained by the posture detecting means, together with photographed image data obtained by the photographing, on the recording medium, and photographing image data recorded on the recording medium. Image rotation means for performing image rotation processing, image scaling means for performing image magnification processing on photographed image data recorded on the recording medium, and a posture state during reproduction obtained by the posture detection means Information of the photographed image data recorded on the recording medium together with the photographing posture state information based on the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium. Scaling and image processing apparatus comprising: a reproduction means for performing reproduction processing by controlling the image rotation process. 2. A determining means for determining whether or not the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detecting means and the photographing posture state information of the imaging means recorded on the recording medium match. Based on the determination result by the determination unit, the image scaling process and the image rotation process of the captured image data recorded on the recording medium and the captured image data recorded on the recording medium are performed by the reproduction unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a display control unit configured to display any of the controlled captured image data on a display unit. 3. The display control means according to claim 1, wherein said determining means determines that the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by said posture detecting means does not match the photographing posture state information recorded on said recording medium. 3. An image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said photographed image data controlled by said reproducing means is displayed on a display means. 4. A mode setting means for setting an operation mode for determining whether or not to perform processing based on posture state information obtained by the posture detecting means at the time of recording an image or reproducing an image in the recording means and the reproducing means. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 5. The posture detecting means detects at least whether the image pickup means is in a vertical composition photographing posture state or a horizontal composition photographing posture state. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a process of rotating the photographed image data so that the display means displays in a direction corresponding to any of the horizontal composition photographing posture states. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scaling unit changes the magnification so that the entire image is displayed on the display unit. 8. An image pickup means, a display means for displaying picked-up image data from the image pickup means or image data being reproduced, an attitude detection means for detecting an attitude state of the image pickup means, and detection by the attitude detection means In addition to the posture state information of the imaging unit, a recording unit that records an image captured by the imaging unit on a recording medium, and in a reproduction mode that reproduces an image read from the recording medium, according to the posture state information, In the quick review mode in which the read image is rotated and displayed on the display means, and the captured image is displayed for a predetermined time immediately after the capturing, regardless of the posture state information, the image is not rotated. An image processing apparatus, comprising: display control means for controlling display. 9. A determining means for determining whether or not the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained by the posture detecting means and the photographing posture state information stored in the storage means coincide with each other; Based on the determination result in the above, image rotation means for performing image rotation processing on the photographed image data stored in the storage means in association with the photographing posture state information, the display control means, Either of the photographed image data stored in the storage unit and the photographed image data obtained by subjecting the photographed image data stored in the storage unit to image rotation processing by the image rotation unit based on the determination result by the determination unit 9. The display device is controlled to display.
The image processing apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 10. The posture detecting means detects at least whether the image pickup means is in a vertical composition photographing posture state or a horizontal composition photographing posture state. 9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the photographed image data is rotated so that a display on the display means is performed in a direction corresponding to any of the horizontal composition photographing posture states. 11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data. 12. An image processing apparatus for performing a recording process and a reproducing process of a photographed image data obtained by an image pickup means on a recording medium, wherein information indicating an attitude state of the image processing device at the time of photographing and reproducing is input. Posture information inputting means, recording means for recording posture state information at the time of photographing input by the posture information inputting means together with photographed image data obtained by the photographing, on the recording medium, Image rotation means for performing image rotation processing on captured image data, image scaling means for performing image magnification processing on captured image data recorded on the recording medium, and input by the attitude information input means. Based on the reproduced posture state information and the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium, together with the photographing posture state information. The image processing apparatus comprising: a reproduction means for to perform the reproduction process controlled variable magnification processing of the photographic image data and the rotation process. 13. An image pickup means, a display means for displaying image data taken from the image pickup means or image data being reproduced, an attitude information input means for inputting information indicating an attitude state of the image pickup means, Recording means for recording an image captured by the image capturing means on a recording medium together with the attitude state information of the image capturing means input by the attitude information input means; and a reproducing mode for reproducing an image read from the recording medium, In the quick review mode in which the read image is rotated and displayed on the display means in accordance with the posture state information and displayed on the display means for a predetermined time immediately after photographing, the photographed image is kept in the display state regardless of the posture state information And a display control means for controlling the image to be displayed without rotating it. 14. An image processing system in which a plurality of devices are communicably connected, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices is an image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13. An image processing system having a function. 15. An image processing method for performing a recording process and a reproduction process of image data obtained by an imaging unit on a recording medium, wherein the posture detection detects the posture state of the imaging unit at the time of photographing and reproduction. A recording step of recording the posture state information at the time of photographing obtained by the posture detecting step together with photographed image data obtained by the photographing on the recording medium; and a photographing image data recorded on the recording medium. An image rotation step of performing image rotation processing on the image, an image magnification step of performing image magnification processing on captured image data recorded on the recording medium, and a posture state during reproduction obtained by the posture detection step Information, based on the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium, and recorded on the recording medium together with the photographing posture state information. An image processing method which comprises a regeneration step of performing control to play processing and the image scaling processing and the image rotation processing of the captured image data. 16. A judging step of judging whether or not the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained in the posture detecting step matches the photographing posture state information recorded on the recording medium; and The photographing image data recorded on the recording medium and the photographing image data recorded on the recording medium are displayed on the display means based on the determination result in the display means. The image processing method according to claim 15, further comprising a display control step of causing the image rotation step and the image scaling step to execute processing based on a result of the determination in the determination step. . 17. The recording step and the reproducing step further include a mode setting step of setting an operation mode for performing or not performing a process based on the posture state information obtained in the posture detection step. The image processing method according to claim 15. 18. The image processing method according to claim 15, further comprising a display step of displaying photographed image data in a storage unit in which the recording data in the recording step is stored. 19. The posture detecting step includes a step of at least detecting whether the imaging means is in a vertical composition photographing posture state or a horizontal composition photographing posture state, and the image rotating step includes the vertical composition photographing posture state. 17. The image processing method according to claim 16, further comprising the step of: rotating the photographed image data so that the display means displays in a direction corresponding to one of the horizontal composition photographing posture state and the horizontal composition photographing posture state. . 20. The image processing method according to claim 15, wherein the photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data. 21. A mode setting step for setting an operation mode for determining whether or not to perform a process based on the posture state information obtained by the posture detection step during image recording or image reproduction in the recording step and the reproduction step. 16. The image processing method according to claim 15, further comprising: 22. The image processing method according to claim 15, wherein said image scaling step includes a step of scaling the entire image on a display means. 23. An image capturing step of capturing an image by an image capturing means, a display step of displaying captured image data obtained in the image capturing step or an image data being reproduced, and a posture detecting step of detecting a posture state of the image capturing means. And a storage step of storing the captured image data obtained in the imaging step together with the posture state information of the imaging means detected in the posture detection step in a storage means; and a reproduction for reproducing an image read from the storage means. In the quick review mode, the read image is rotated and displayed on the display means in accordance with the posture state information in the mode, and the photographed image is displayed for a predetermined period immediately after the photographing. Display control step of controlling an image to be displayed without rotating regardless of information. Image processing method comprising and. 24. A judging step of judging whether or not the posture state information at the time of reproduction obtained in the posture detecting step and the photographing posture state information stored in the storage means coincide with each other; Based on the determination result in the above, further comprising an image rotation step of performing image rotation processing on the captured image data stored in the storage means in association with the shooting posture state information, the display control step, Either the captured image data stored in the storage unit or the captured image data obtained by subjecting the captured image data stored in the storage unit to image rotation processing in the image rotation step based on the determination result in the determination step. 24. The image processing method according to claim 23, further comprising the step of controlling the display of the image. 25. The posture detecting step includes at least detecting whether the imaging means is in a vertical composition photographing posture state or a horizontal composition photographing posture state, and the image rotation step is performed in the vertical composition photographing posture state. 25. The image processing method according to claim 24, further comprising the step of rotating the photographed image data so that the display is performed in a direction corresponding to any one of the horizontal composition photographing posture state and the horizontal composition photographing posture state. 26. The image processing method according to claim 23, wherein the photographed image data includes at least one of moving image data and still image data. 27. A computer readable storage of a processing program for implementing the function of the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or the function of the image processing system according to claim 14. Characteristic storage medium. 28. A storage medium, wherein the processing steps of the image processing method according to claim 15 are stored in a computer readable manner.