JP2001111963A - Recording and playback method for video camera using optical disk - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] In a video camera apparatus using an optical disk, a target image is searched at high speed. When taking a picture with a video camera, a thumbnail is created from a leading image at the start of recording or an arbitrary image and stored in a dedicated recording area for a thumbnail on an optical disc. Moving images are recorded in the MPEG format, and still images for thumbnails are stored in the JPEG format. At the time of reproduction, a plurality of thumbnails are read from the dedicated recording area for thumbnails, displayed as a list, and reproduction is started from an image corresponding to the thumbnail selected by the operator. At this time, the operability of the operator is improved by adding an icon indicating the nature of the image to the thumbnail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video recording / reproducing apparatus, particularly to a video camera using an optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, the so-called commercial products
With the 8 mm video camera device, random access to the recorded image could not be performed, so it took time to find the beginning, but with the video camera using the optical disk, random access became possible.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image reproducing apparatus using an optical disk, which can search a desired image at high speed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus using an optical disk, which automatically creates and records a thumbnail of an input image at the time of recording.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the present invention, the following constitution is provided.

The optical disk used has a management information recording area and a data recording area, and a part of the data recording area is allocated as a thumbnail recording area. This is because by recording a plurality of thumbnails in a grouped area on the optical disc, it is possible to improve the reading speed and the search efficiency when displaying a list of thumbnail images.

Next, a thumbnail is automatically created at the time of shooting with a video camera and recorded on an optical disk. That is, when a recording start instruction is input by the operator, the video camera starts recording processing of a video image input from the camera unit. In the case of recording on an optical disk, the digital quantized data read by the CCD device is temporarily stored in a buffer, and is subjected to a code conversion such as an MPEG format.

At this time, an arbitrary frame image from the buffer is stored in the same area in the buffer or another buffer area. This frame image, for example,
This is an image for one frame of a moving image formed by 30 frames. A thumbnail is created from the frame image in the buffer during the idle time of the recording process, that is, at the end of the recording or during the idle time of the CPU during the recording process. The thumbnail may be created in a still image format, for example, the JPEG format or a similar image format. The created thumbnail is recorded in the thumbnail recording area. At this time, a time stamp is added to the thumbnail. It is important that the time stamp uses the recording date and time of the original frame image of the thumbnail, not the creation time of the thumbnail itself.

Next, a method of selecting a recorded image by using a thumbnail and reproducing the selected image will be described. First, in the video camera, when a thumbnail list display is instructed, the management information area of the optical disc is searched, a recording area of the thumbnail is recognized, a plurality of thumbnails are read from the recording area in the order of time stamp, and the display means is displayed. To display a list. The order of the time stamps may be all thumbnails in chronological order using time stamps, or partial display in which thumbnails having a specific association are skipped. For example, by skipping thumbnails created within a certain period of time (for example, within 15 minutes) from the time stamp of the previous thumbnail, even if recording and replaying are repeated at short intervals and there are many thumbnails, an appropriate amount Only thumbnails can be displayed. Further, when displaying on the display device, an icon indicating the property of the image may be superimposed on the thumbnail and displayed.

Next, when a thumbnail of an image to be reproduced is selected by the operator, the video camera recognizes the thumbnail, recognizes a recording location of a moving image attached to the recognized thumbnail, and recognizes the video. The moving image is reproduced from the recorded location. Here, if the information of the storage area of the moving image corresponding to the thumbnail is added, the target moving image can be accessed without referring to the management information recording area of the optical disc, so that high-speed processing can be performed.

[0011]

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of a video camera device according to this embodiment. Optical disk 201
Is a recording medium such as a DVD-R or DVD-RAM, for example, and a disc having a diameter of 8 cm or a disc having an arbitrary diameter such as 12 cm or 6 cm can be used. The subject image obtained from the optical lens is input to the camera signal processing DSP 208 by an electric signal by the CCD sensor 207, converted into Y, U, and V signals, and the image is enhanced. Also DSP208
Generates a driving pulse necessary for the CCD sensor 207 and a synchronizing signal required for video output, and supplies them to each unit. Operation keys 203
Is input means for operating the video camera device. The camera control microcomputer 210 optimally controls the camera signal processing DSP 208 based on the image information obtained from the state of the optical system and the CCD sensor and the information obtained from the operation of the entire camera. The LCD display panel 215 displays an input video and a reproduced image. The pickup unit 202 writes and reads signals to and from the optical disc 201, and includes a semiconductor laser and a lens. The digital video signal obtained from the camera signal processing DSP 208 is sent to the MPEG-2 codec 217 as, for example, 16-bit parallel data in this example. The MPEG-2 codec unit 217 uses the memory unit 212 such as an SDRAM as an image memory to expand the image of the camera signal processing DSP 208 and compress the moving image data to about 1/60. The compressed video data is output to the system internal bus 205 in accordance with a command from the system control microcomputer 213. On the other hand, although the audio signal is not shown, the signal obtained from the microphone built in the camera is A / D converted, compressed by software processing in the system control microcomputer 213, and output by the MPEG-2 codec unit 217. Multiplexed with the generated video data to generate an MPEG data stream. This MPEG data stream is DV
The signal is sent to the signal processing circuit 204 via the buffer RAM 206 for avoiding a writing error due to vibration or shock applied to the optical disk such as D. The signal processing circuit 204 is a circuit that integrates a tracking, focus and DVD spindle servo circuit for a DVD optical disc and an error correction circuit for writing and reading data.The MPEG data stream is processed into a data format according to the DVD standard. Then, a correction code is added, digital modulation is performed by an R / W (Read / Write) circuit 216, and the data is recorded on an optical disk 201 by a pickup unit 202.

When reproducing video data, the optical disk 20
The pit information is read in a digitally modulated state by the pickup unit 2 from 1, the waveform equalization and the servo signal are detected by the R / W circuit 16, and the MPEG-
The two video streams are output to the system internal bus 205. At this time, the buffer RAM 206 is also used. The video and audio data of the system internal bus 205 is controlled by the command of the system control microcomputer 213 to control the data transfer on the bus, and the original video data is restored by the MPEG-2 codec unit 217 by the decompression operation.
After being converted into an NTSC signal by the camera DSP 208 with the parallel signal, the signal passes through the LCD control unit 209 and is displayed on the LCD display panel 215 as a reproduced image. Similarly, since an NTSC video signal is output from the camera signal processing DSP 208, it can be displayed on an external TV from a video output terminal provided in the camera.
Further, the video and audio data can be transmitted to an external personal computer via the USB controller 218. Here, recording and playback of a moving image according to the MPEG-2 format has been described. However, the present camera can capture and record a still image using an I picture in the MPEG format or a JPEG image. The encoding operation of the JPEG format is almost the same as the encoding operation of the I-picture of the MPEG format.
Format encoding operation is also possible. The still image output from the MPEG-2 codec is one file,
It is recorded on the optical disc 201. It is also possible to record only audio data. By associating a still image with a file in the previous period, it becomes possible to handle audio data with a still image.

FIG. 3 schematically shows an example of a video camera to which the present invention is applied and an arrangement of operation keys. The optical lens 29 has the same structure as a known portable 8 mm video camera. The finder 30 for photographing is a small liquid crystal display unit. The direction instructing means key 31 is an instruction key for performing various selection operations from an image menu, and each button indicates four directions (up, down, right, left).
The Enter key 36 is a key for confirming the selected menu, thumbnail or the like. The jog dial 32 is an input unit for manually operating the camera. The power switch 33 is a switch for a main power supply of the video camera. Here, in a known portable 8 mm video camera, the power switch generally has two types of ON modes, that is, power ON as a reproduction mode and power ON in a recording mode. There is no need to separate modes. In a video camera using a magnetic tape, if recording is started from a tape position that happens to occur, data may be erased by mistake. Therefore, the playback mode and the recording mode are separated. However, on optical discs,
Since recording can be performed from an arbitrary recording area, there is no fear of malfunction such as erroneous overwriting of a recorded area. Therefore, separating the power ON mode rather deteriorates the operability. The REC key 35 is a button for instructing start and end of recording. Here, the recording standby mode (recording pause) is unnecessary. This is because an image can be recorded immediately from any point in time without performing a standby operation such as winding a tape around a rotary head, such as a magnetic tape using a rotary head (this is because the buffer RAM 206 This is also the effect of buffering using. The battery 34 is a detachable rechargeable battery. The openable liquid crystal display unit 37 has a configuration like a liquid crystal display unit of a known portable 8 mm video camera,
For example, an LCD panel 38 of 2 to 4 inches is provided, and can display an image being recorded, a thumbnail image, a reproduced image, and other menu screens described later.

Next, an operation of selecting a desired image from thumbnail images in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is used to select a desired image after photographing images of a plurality of scenes, and is displayed on a viewfinder 30 or an LCD panel 38. On the screen 100, a plurality of thumbnail images 101 are displayed. Here, 12 thumbnails are displayed on one screen. Each thumbnail is, for example, an image created by reducing an image (for example, a leading image) at a predetermined position of each recording scene, and is recorded in a thumbnail recording area of an optical disk 201 described later in a still image format (for example, a JPEG format). . At the top left of each thumbnail, an icon 10 indicating the feature of the image corresponding to the thumbnail is displayed.
2,103,104 are displayed. Movie camera icon 102
Indicates that the image corresponding to the thumbnail is a moving image,
The icon 103 indicates a still image, and the note icon 104 indicates a still image to which sound is added.
The characteristics of the recorded data can be clearly understood by the content identification icons displayed superimposed on these thumbnails.

The scroll bar 105 indicates which of the thumbnail images of a plurality of pages is being displayed. The date 106 and the comment 107 are the time when the selected thumbnail image (indicated by the selection frame 110) was recorded and the comment of the character attached to the image. The display changes each time the selection frame 110 moves. Reference numeral 108 denotes an operation key for moving the selection frame 110 (here, the direction indicating means key 31), and reference numeral 109 denotes a key for starting reproduction of an image corresponding to the selected thumbnail (here, the Enter key 36). .

Next, a procedure for recording a thumbnail image will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the operator sets the camera power switch 33 to the O position.
By setting N, and pressing the REC button 35, the recording operation is started immediately (step 61). When the recording operation is started, an unrecorded area is searched from a data recording area on the optical disc 201, and a recording start position is set.

Next, an image is captured from the optical lens 29,
This is encoded by the MPEG-2 codec unit 217 and recorded on the optical disc 201 (steps 62 to 64). In optical disks, unlike magnetic tapes, there is little need to process input video encoding and recording in synchronization, and if an encoded image is stored in a buffer and recorded intermittently on an optical disk, Power consumption can be saved. In step 62, one frame of the leading image at the start of recording is temporarily stored in a buffer together with a time stamp, and is used for creating a thumbnail image described later.

Next, it is detected whether or not the operator has pressed the REC button 35 again (this means the end of recording). If so, the flow proceeds to step 66, and if not, the flow returns to step 62 ( Step 65). When the power is over,
Using the first frame image stored in the buffer, a thumbnail image of a predetermined size (for example, 160 × 120 dots) is created and recorded in a dedicated recording area for thumbnails. In this embodiment, thumbnail creation is performed after shooting,
An example is shown in which an image is not created during shooting. This is encoding, memory, and Disc management. The system control microcomputer 213 and each part (204, 206, 202) of the Disc drive are BU.
This is because it is SY, and if there is enough room in these processing systems, thumbnail creation and thumbnail writing (step 6
6, 67) may be performed simultaneously with shooting (during the processing of steps 62 to 64). In addition, the thumbnail is pressed by the operator by pressing the thumbnail creation button while playing the moving image.
A thumbnail at any point may be created. In this embodiment, since the thumbnail recording unit is provided separately,
At any point after recording a moving image, a thumbnail can be added or deleted.

Here, the recording area of the optical disk 201 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, the management information area 41
Is an area for recording the contents and addresses of information recorded in the data recording area 42, and is generally a TOC (Table of C
ontents) or FAT area. The data recording area 42 is an area for recording a captured video (moving image, still image, sound). These areas 41 and 42 are generally defined by standards in many cases. FIG. 5 shows an example of data recorded in the data recording area 42. The thumbnail recording section 50 is a dedicated recording area for thumbnail images created in the present embodiment. This area is the data recording area
The area can be set in any area of 42, but in order to read out the thumbnail images at high speed, it is preferable to set the area in a dedicated area different from the photographed video recording unit 55. The thumbnail recording section 50 includes a plurality of pieces of thumbnail information 51 and 52. The photographed video recording unit 55 records photographed moving images, still images, and sounds in chronological order.

FIG. 5B shows the details of the information included in the thumbnail information 51. The video ID 55 indicates which image the thumbnail is, and the identification number of the thumbnail (or the identification number of the moving image) and the storage address of the corresponding image (in the case of the thumbnail 51, the start address of the video data 53)
Is included. The title 56 is character information indicating the content of the thumbnail information, and is usually added by the operator at any time after the creation of the thumbnail. Thumbnail data 57
Is a still image compressed in the JPEG format. Related Information 58
Stores, for example, shooting date and time, thumbnail creation date and time, and other information.

FIG. 8 further explains the image recording operation and the thumbnail image recording operation.

An input image 81 input from the optical lens 29
Are temporarily stored in a buffer 82 which is a semiconductor memory. The stored image is subjected to MPEG compression 83, but at the same time, a specific image, for example, the first screen at the start of recording is copied to the buffer 86. While the input image 81 is subsequently input, the MPEG-compressed 83 and encoded image is stored in the second buffer 84 and recorded on the optical disk 201. On the other hand, when the recording process of the input image 81 is completed,
The JPEG compression 87 is performed by reducing the 86 image, a thumbnail image is created, and the data from the buffer 84 and another recording area,
Alternatively, it is recorded in addition to the video data itself. As described above, the MPEG compression processing and the JPEG compression processing are performed as independent processing. Although the image in the buffer 82 is copied to the buffer 86, it is also possible to copy the I picture of the MPEG image stored in the buffer 84 and use it for creating a thumbnail. Even in this case, the MPEG processing and the thumbnail creation processing can be performed separately. The buffers 82 and 86 in FIG. 8 can use the memory unit 212 in FIG. 2, and the buffer 84 can use the buffer RAM 206.

Next, the procedure for searching and displaying images using thumbnails will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First,
When the thumbnail image list display is instructed by the operator, the management information of the optical disk is read out (step 7).
0), the recording area of the thumbnail image is recognized, and a desired number (for example, 12) of thumbnails is read out in the order of the time stamp to which the thumbnails are added (step 71). The read thumbnails are displayed as a list as described in FIG. 1 (step 72). If the thumbnail image according to the present invention is not recorded in advance, the head image of the data stream in which the images in the disc are continuous may be read, and the thumbnail may be generated and displayed. However, this method is inefficient because it takes much time.

Next, the direction indicating means key 31 and the ENTER key 36
, A desired thumbnail is selected by the operator, and the playback mode selected by the jog dial is determined (step 74).

In the case of normal reproduction, the thumbnail image ID 51
, The storage position of the image corresponding to the thumbnail is recognized, the reproduction of the data from the storage position is started (step 75), and the reproduction is continued until it ends (step 76).

In the case of special reproduction, the thumbnail image ID 51
Then, the storage position of the image corresponding to the thumbnail is recognized, and special reproduction of data from the storage position is performed. The trick play is slow play, fast forward play, and the like. In particular,
In this embodiment, the fast-forward playback is realized by skipping the playback image. This means, for example, that only I pictures are taken out from images recorded in MPEG2 and played back, or of each frame image taken at 30 frames per second,
1, 6, 11, 16 ... Frames are regularly extracted so as to be extracted, and only this is reproduced, whereby an effect equivalent to fast forward reproduction is obtained. In this example,
5, 7 to 10, 12 to 15,... The image is not reproduced at all, and the method is different from the fast-forward method of a video camera using a normal magnetic tape which performs fast-forward by combining partial images of each frame. . In this manner, the trick play is continued until the end of the trick play (step 78).

If it is determined in step 73 that the display of the thumbnail image of the next page is selected instead of selecting the reproduction mode, the process returns to step 72 (step 79).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exemplary view for explaining an operation of selecting a desired image from thumbnail images according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of the video camera device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of an outer shape of a video camera and an arrangement of operation keys according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a recording area of the optical disk device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining information recorded in a management information area and a data recording area of the optical disc device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a recording procedure of a thumbnail image.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure for searching and displaying an image at a high speed by using a thumbnail.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an image recording operation and a thumbnail image recording operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

100… Screen, 101 thumbnail images, 102,103,104…
Icon, 105… Scroll bar, 106… Date, 107
... comment, 110 ... selection frame, 201 ... optical disc.

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Fumishige Yagi 1410 Inada, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki F-term (reference) in Digital Media Products Division, Hitachi, Ltd. 5C022 AA11 AB68 AC00 AC03 AC13 5C052 AA02 AC08 BB04 BC05 CC11 DD02 DD04 5C053 FA10 FA24 FA25 GA11 GA14 GA18 GB04 GB11 GB36 GB37 GB38 HA30 KA24 LA01 LA06

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A video apparatus for reproducing information from an optical disk on which thumbnails are recorded together with image information, wherein a management information area of the optical disk is searched to recognize a thumbnail recording area, and a plurality of thumbnails are recorded from the recording area. Is read and displayed on the display means, the thumbnail selected by the operator is recognized, the address information of the moving image added to the recognized thumbnail is read, and the data is read from the position indicated by the address information to read the moving image. An image reproducing method characterized by reproducing the image. 2. The optical disc has a management information recording area and a data recording area, and a part of the data recording area is allocated as a thumbnail recording area. 2. The image reproducing method according to claim 1, wherein upon receiving the thumbnail, the thumbnail images are read from the thumbnail recording area in the order of the time stamp added to the thumbnail. 3. The thumbnail according to claim 2, wherein the thumbnail is a reduced image of the first image at the start of MPEG recording, and the reproduction of the moving image is performed from an image corresponding to the selected thumbnail. Image playback method. 4. The image reproducing method according to claim 3, wherein the reproduction of the moving image is performed while skipping a predetermined frame image from an image corresponding to the selected thumbnail. 5. In a video camera using an optical disk, when a recording start instruction is detected by an operator, recording of an image input from the camera unit is started, and
The first frame image is stored in the buffer, and when an instruction to end recording is detected by the operator, a thumbnail is created from the frame image stored in the buffer, and the created thumbnail is recorded separately from the recorded image on the optical disc. A thumbnail recording method in a video camera, characterized in that recording is performed in an area. 6. In a video camera using an optical disc, when an instruction to start recording is detected by an operator, an image input from the camera unit is MPEG-compressed to start a recording process, and the input video is optionally recorded. Storing the frame image in the buffer, detecting the idle time of the recording process, and when the idle time is detected, creates a thumbnail by JPEG compression from the frame image stored in the buffer, and stores the created thumbnail on the optical disc. Recording a moving image created by the MPEG compression in a different recording area from the thumbnail image in the video camera. 7. The thumbnail recording method according to claim 6, wherein the arbitrary frame image is a frame image when a predetermined time has elapsed after the start of image recording.