JP2001245194A - Image quality correction method, still image pickup device, and external connection device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: When transferring an image recorded in an image recording memory from a still image imaging device having a replaceable image recording memory to an externally connected device, the still image imaging device It is possible to perform image quality correction on an externally connected device only for an image captured by itself. SOLUTION: In a still image pickup apparatus, an image signal processing section 3 records still image data accompanied by shooting condition information in an exchangeable image recording memory 4. When the still image data recorded in the image recording memory 4 is transferred from the transmission line 6 to the external connection device 7 through the image data transmission control unit 5 together with the additional information, the still image data connected to the external connection device 7 Only when the image quality correction unit 8 detects that the image data is still image data captured by the image capturing apparatus itself, the image quality is corrected based on the accompanying shooting condition information and output to the external output device 9 or the external storage device 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a still image pickup device having a replaceable image recording memory and using a CCD image pickup device, an external connection device for transmitting a still image with the still image pickup device, and The present invention relates to an image quality correction method in both apparatuses, and particularly to an image quality correction performed based on photographing conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an image recorded in an image recording memory is transferred from a still image imaging device having an image recording memory to an externally connected device, an image signal built in the still image imaging device is transferred. There has been proposed a device that corrects image quality deterioration due to the characteristics of a signal processing system of a processing unit and transfers (transmits) it to an externally connected device, and outputs a corrected image in the externally connected device.

Hereinafter, a conventional example of this type of still image transmission apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 1 denotes an optical lens, and reference numeral 2 denotes an image pickup unit. The object light entering from the optical lens 1 is optically focused on an image pickup device (CCD) of the image pickup unit 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes an image recording memory which stores a still image (data) processed by the image signal processing unit 3. Image recording memory 4
Of the still image stored in the image signal processing unit 3, image quality deterioration caused by the characteristics of the signal processing system of the image signal processing unit 3 is corrected by the image quality correction unit 12.

[0005] A still image is transferred from the still image pickup device having the above configuration to the external connection device 7 through the transmission line 6. The external connection device 7 outputs the still image whose image quality has been corrected by the image quality correction unit 12 to the external output device 9.

As described above, in the conventional example, before the image data is transferred from the still image pickup device to the external connection device 7, the image quality deterioration caused by the characteristics of the signal processing system of the image signal processing section 3 of the still image pickup device is reduced. The image quality of the still image capturing device is corrected, and the image quality of the still image transferred to the external connection device 7 is improved.

[0007]

However, in the image quality correcting method in the conventional still image transmitting apparatus, the still image stored in the image recording memory 4 provided so as to be exchangeable is transferred to the external connection device 7. Even when the replaceable image recording memory 4 is image-recorded by a device other than the still image capturing device, the image signal processing is performed on the image by the image quality correction unit 12 in the still image capturing device. There is a problem that image quality deterioration correction due to the characteristics of the signal processing system in the unit 3 is performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problem, and when a replaceable image recording memory is image-recorded by a device other than the still image capturing device, image quality deterioration correction is performed in the still image capturing device. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image quality correction method, a still image capturing device, and an external connection device that do not perform the above.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a photographing condition at the time of photographing a video image can be exchanged with a still image capturing device simultaneously with image data as supplementary information. The still image data recorded in the image recording memory is transferred to the external connection device through the transmission line together with the accompanying information, and the transferred image is transferred to the external connection device. It is detected from the supplementary information of the data that the image has been taken by the still image pickup device itself, and the photographing conditions at the time of photographing by the still image pickup device are extracted based on the supplementary information of the transferred image data. It is characterized by performing image quality correction based on the extracted shooting conditions, and as in this image quality correction method, an image recording system capable of exchanging still image data accompanied by shooting condition information. When the still image data recorded in the image recording memory is transferred to the externally connected device through the transmission line, the still image data is captured by the still image capturing device to which the externally connected device is connected. The image quality can be corrected only for the still image data based on the accompanying shooting condition information and output to an external output device or an external storage device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an exchangeable image recording memory, wherein an image picked up through an optical lens is focused on an image pickup device, converted into an electric signal and output as an image pickup image signal. A still image capturing apparatus that records the captured video in the image recording memory; Means for transferring the still image data recorded in the image data together with the additional information to an external connection device through a transmission line. This configuration makes it possible to exchange still image data with the imaging condition information. If the still image data is recorded in the memory, the still image data recorded in the image recording memory is transferred to the external device through the transmission line. There only for still image data photographed by the still image capturing apparatus itself is connected, it is possible to perform image quality correction from photographing condition information attached in the external connection device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an external connection device connected to the still image pickup device according to the second aspect through a transmission line, wherein the external connection device is provided based on additional information of the transferred image data. A means for detecting that the image has been captured by the still image capturing apparatus itself, and means for extracting a capturing condition at the time of capturing in the still image capturing apparatus according to claim 2 from supplementary information of the transferred image data. Means for performing image quality correction on the basis of the extracted shooting conditions. With this configuration, when still image data recorded in the image recording memory is received through the transmission line, the external The image quality correction is performed only on the still image data captured by the still image capturing apparatus itself to which the connection device is connected, based on the accompanying shooting condition information, and the output is performed on the external output device or the external storage device. It can be output to the device.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Members corresponding to those of the conventional example described with reference to FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a still image transmission device for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. In a still image pickup device, a subject light entering from an optical lens 1 is optically picked up by an image pickup section 2. An image is formed on a CCD, and a still image photoelectrically converted by the CCD is processed in an image signal processing unit 3 to be JPEG-compressed and recorded in an image recording memory 4 exchangeably provided in a still image pickup device. I do.

The still image recorded in the image recording memory 4 is transferred (transmitted) by the image data transmission control unit 5 to the external connection device 7 through the transmission line 6 together with the supplementary information of the still image. The external connection device 7 performs image quality correction in the image quality correction unit 8 based on the transferred additional information, and then outputs a still image to the external output device 9 or the external storage device 10.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a method of recording the additional information on a still image. Reference numeral 13 denotes JPEG data obtained by compressing a still image in the image signal processing unit 3. 14 is J
This is an application marker section that allows the user to arbitrarily store information in the PEG data.

In the application marker section 14,
Reference numeral 15 denotes a device name data storage unit for storing data of a device name for identifying a still image capturing device, and 16 denotes one of data of processing information applied by the image signal processing unit 3 at the time of photographing in the still image capturing device. In this example, an AGC gain amount is stored.

Next, the operation of the still picture transmitting apparatus configured as described above will be described.

In FIG. 1, an image picked up by an optical lens 1 is focused on a CCD of an image pickup unit 2, converted into an electric signal, and output as an image pickup image signal. The captured video signal is processed as a still image by the image signal
Perform PEG compression. When performing JPEG compression, as in the data storage flowchart in the image signal processing unit shown in FIG. 3, in the image signal processing unit 3, the application marker unit 14 stores a device name capable of identifying the captured still image capturing device ( S1-1) Further, AGC gain data obtained when a still image is captured by the still image capturing device is stored in the application marker unit 14 (S1-2).
The additional information may be stored in the application marker unit 14 before or after the compression of the still image body.
The still image JPEG data in which the photographing conditions at the time of photographing are stored as supplementary information is recorded in the image recording memory 4.

The still image data recorded by the still image pickup device recorded in the image recording memory 4 is stored in the transmission line 6 while the photographing conditions at the time of photographing are stored by the image data transmission control unit 5 as supplementary information. Is transferred to the external connection device 7 connected via the.

Still image data recorded in the image recording memory 4 by an apparatus other than the still image capturing apparatus which does not have the method for recording additional information to a still image described with reference to FIG. The data is transferred by the control unit 5 to the external connection device 7 connected via the transmission line 6.

The still image data thus transferred to the external connection device 7 is subjected to the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is,
The image quality correction unit 8 evaluates whether or not the device name is stored in the application marker portion of the still image data transferred to the external connection device 7 (S2-1), and if the device name is stored (YES in S2-1). ), It is evaluated whether it matches the name of the still image pickup device connected through the transmission line 6 (S2-2). If the evaluation results match (S2-2
YES), the AGC gain data stored in the application marker unit 14 is read (S2-3).

The image quality correction section 8 performs contour correction based on the AGC gain data thus obtained in accordance with the setting diagram shown in FIG. 5 (S2-4). That is, when the AGC gain amount at the time of shooting a still image is the standard value GSTD, the standard outline emphasis amount APSTD for image quality deterioration caused by the characteristics of the signal processing system of the signal processing unit 3 is applied. However, the S / N (SN ratio) of a still image tends to be lower than a standard value when the amount of AGC gain at the time of shooting a still image increases. Therefore, for a still image with a large AGC gain, the amount of S / N reduction can be suppressed by reducing the amount of edge enhancement. The contour enhancement amount decreases with the AGC gain amount, and the contour correction stops at the AGC gain amount G0.

As described above, in the external connection device 7, the signal processing system in the signal processing unit 3 applies a still image captured by the still image capturing device itself connected via the transmission line 6 by the image quality correction unit 8. Optimal correction for image quality deterioration due to characteristics and the like can be performed.

In the external connection device 7, the still image transferred from the still image pickup device connected via the transmission line 6 is taken by a device other than the connected still image pickup device. Can be detected by evaluating the device name stored in the application marker unit 14. For this reason, when it is determined that the transferred still image has been captured by an apparatus other than the connected still image capturing apparatus, the characteristics of the signal processing system of the signal processing unit 3 for the still image are determined. No correction is made for the image quality degradation caused by.

By doing so, the signal processing unit 3
It is possible to prevent unnecessary correction from being performed on a still image that is unrelated to the characteristics of the signal processing system.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By recording still image data accompanied by shooting condition information in an exchangeable image recording memory, when the still image data recorded in the image recording memory is transferred to an external connection device through a transmission line, It is possible to detect that the image data is still image data captured by the still image capturing device itself connected to the external connection device, correct the image quality based on the accompanying shooting condition information, and output to the external output device or external storage device. It becomes possible. Further, it is possible to prevent unnecessary correction of a still image captured by a device other than the connected still image capturing device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a still image transmission device for describing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method for recording additional information on a still image according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an image signal processing unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an image quality correction unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a setting diagram relating to contour correction of an image quality correction unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a conventional still image transmission device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 optical lens 2 imaging unit 3 signal processing unit 4 replaceable image recording memory 5 image data transmission control unit 6 transmission line 7 external connection device 8 image quality correction unit 9 external output device 10 external storage device 13 JPEG data 14 application marker unit 15 Device name data storage of still image pickup device 16 Photographing information data storage

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 5/907 G06F 15/64 450E 5C062 5/91 15/66 310 // H04N 101: 00 H04N 5/91 J F term (Reference) 5B047 AA05 AB02 CB01 CB30 EA01 5B057 BA02 BA11 CA01 CA08 CA12 CB01 CB08 CB12 CC01 CE17 CG07 DB06 5C022 AA13 AB68 AC42 AC54 AC69 5C052 AA17 CC01 CC20 DD02 5C053 FA07 FA27 GB05 AC06 AB04 AC06 AB06 AC04 AC25 AC34 AC43 AE01 AF00 AF14

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A photographing condition at the time of photographing a photographed video is recorded as supplementary information together with the photographing data in an image recording memory exchangeably provided in a still image photographing device, and recorded in the image recording memory. The transferred still image data is transferred to the external connection device through the transmission line together with the additional information, and the external connection device detects from the additional information of the transferred image data that the image has been captured by the still image pickup device itself. An image quality correction method comprising: extracting image capturing conditions at the time of image capturing in the still image capturing apparatus based on supplementary information of the transferred image data; and performing image quality correction based on the extracted image capturing conditions. 2. An image recording memory comprising an exchangeable image recording memory, wherein an image picked-up image incident through an optical lens is focused on an image sensor, converted into an electric signal, and output as an image picked-up image signal. Means for recording, in the image recording memory, the photographing conditions at the time of photographing the photographed video as supplementary information simultaneously with the photographing data, and the still image data recorded in the image recording memory. Means for transferring the information together with additional information to an external connection device through a transmission line. 3. An external connection device connected to the still image pickup device according to claim 2 through a transmission line, wherein the still image pickup device itself according to claim 2 is obtained from supplementary information of the transferred image data. A means for detecting that the image is a photographed image, a means for extracting a photographing condition at the time of photographing in the still image photographing apparatus according to claim 2, from the supplementary information of the transferred image data, and the extracted photographing condition Means for performing image quality correction based on the external connection device.