JP2002369125A - Imaging device and method of deleting image thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide an imaging device and a method of deleting an image, which can search for an image generally considered unnecessary by a simple operation. SOLUTION: When a release button is pressed, if a storage capacity shortage of image storage is detected, as shown in FIG. The multi-image is displayed on the display together with the command key to be attached, and when the command key is selected, the display order of the multi-image is changed to the order of image candidates to be deleted from a predetermined viewpoint designated by the command key.
The user looks at the multi-image, deletes the image, and allows the user to continue shooting.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus such as a digital camera, and more particularly to a process when the capacity of storage means for storing an image is insufficient.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital cameras are rapidly spreading. Innovative semiconductor technology has enabled high-resolution digital cameras to be purchased at lower prices. However, as the resolution increases, the file size of the image also increases, and one of the issues is to effectively utilize the limited storage capacity.

When the storage capacity of the storage medium in the digital camera becomes insufficient and the data cannot be stored on the storage medium, a digital camera in which the shutter button (release button) is disabled is also put into practical use. Have been.

[0004] In addition, there is also a practical one that displays a message by using a display device on a digital camera when a shutter button is operated, and a digital camera that gives a warning to a user by sounding a buzzer. Has been

When an image is to be erased when the storage capacity is full, one image is displayed on the display device of the digital camera to delete unnecessary images, or a multi-image display is performed. (Display multiple index images on the screen), search for the image you want to delete while viewing the multi-screen, and note the number of the image you want to delete.
In the one-image display state, the one that deletes an image based on the previously recorded number has been put to practical use.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional digital camera, it is necessary to search for an image to be deleted in order to eliminate a memory shortage. Also, the number of images that can be displayed at one time is limited even when using a multi-screen, and finding unnecessary images from a large number of images is a difficult task.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and has as its object to provide an imaging apparatus and an image deletion method capable of retrieving generally unnecessary images by a simple operation. Things.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an image pickup apparatus having the following (1) to (11).
And the method of deleting images is described in the following (12),
The configuration is as shown in (13).

(1) Storage means for storing a taken image, display means for displaying a taken image, capacity shortage detecting means for detecting capacity shortage of the storage means, and capacity shortage detecting means A control unit configured to control the display unit to display the photographed multi-images in the order of the validity when the shortage is detected.

(2) Storage means for storing the taken image, display means for displaying the taken image, capacity shortage detection means for detecting capacity shortage of the storage means, and capacity shortage detection means When the shortage is detected, the captured multi-images in order of effectiveness are displayed on the display unit together with a command key for ordering image candidates to be deleted from a predetermined viewpoint, and when the command key is selected, Control means for controlling the display order of the multi-image to be changed to the order of image candidates to be deleted from a predetermined viewpoint designated by the command key.

(3) In the imaging device described in (2), the predetermined viewpoint designated by the command key is at least one of an effective order, a camera shake order, an underexposure order, and a defocus order of the images.

(4) storage means for storing the taken image, display means for displaying the taken image, capacity shortage detecting means for detecting capacity shortage of the storage means, and capacity shortage detecting means having a capacity shortage An image capturing apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to control a display of a captured multi-image so as to clearly indicate a candidate for an image to be deleted on the display unit when a shortage is detected.

(5) In the imaging device according to (4), the candidate for the image to be deleted is an image that does not reach a value of a predetermined effectiveness.

(6) In the imaging device according to any one of (1) to (5), the control unit may be configured to detect when the capacity shortage detection unit detects a capacity shortage when a release button is pressed. An imaging device that controls to display a multi-image.

(7) photographing means, storage means for storing images photographed by the photographing means, index display means for displaying a plurality of images in the storage means on the same screen,
In an image pickup apparatus provided with a storage capacity detecting means for detecting a storage capacity in the storage means, in a shooting mode, when the storage capacity detecting means detects that the storage capacity is insufficient, a candidate for an image to be deleted. An imaging apparatus comprising control means for controlling the display so as to be displayed by the index display means.

(8) The image pickup apparatus according to the above (7), further comprising a camera shake image detecting means for detecting a camera shake image,
An imaging apparatus that prioritizes a camera shake image detected by the camera shake image detection unit as a candidate for the image to be deleted.

(9) The imaging apparatus according to (7), further comprising an underexposure image detecting means for detecting an underexposure image, wherein the underexposure image detected by the underexposure image detecting means as a candidate for the image to be deleted. An imaging device that gives priority to an image.

(10) The image pickup apparatus according to (7), further comprising an out-of-focus image detecting means for detecting an out-of-focus image, and giving priority to the out-of-focus image detected by the out-of-focus image detecting means as a candidate for the image to be deleted. Imaging device.

(11) In the image pickup apparatus described in (7), a camera shake image detecting means for detecting a camera shake image, an underexposed image detecting means for detecting an underexposed image, and a defocused image detecting means for detecting a defocused image. And an assigning means for assigning a priority to an image obtained by each of the detecting means, and setting an image according to the assigned priority as a candidate for the image to be deleted.

(12) Step A for detecting a shortage of the capacity of the storage means for storing the photographed image;
A step of displaying, on the display means, the captured multi-images in the order of validity when a shortage of capacity is detected in step S, and a step C of deleting the images while viewing the multi-images displayed in the step B. A method for deleting an image.

(13) Step A for detecting a shortage of the capacity of the storage means for storing the photographed image;
A step B of displaying a photographed multi-image in a form in which a candidate for an image to be deleted is clearly displayed when a capacity shortage is detected in step B; and a step C of deleting the image by viewing the multi-image in the step B. Deletion method provided.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to embodiments of a digital camera. Note that the present invention is not limited to the form of the apparatus, but can be implemented in the form of a method supported by the description of the embodiments.

[0023]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a "digital camera" as an embodiment. In FIG.
Denotes an imaging unit that converts an optical image formed by a lens into an electric signal. An image processing unit 102 digitally processes a signal from the photographing unit 101 and converts the signal into a file in a JPEG format or the like. Reference numeral 103 denotes an image storage unit using a flash memory or the like for storing image files such as JPEG and image information. Reference numeral 104 denotes a temporary storage unit using a DRAM or the like for storing temporary storage data for processing an image and other information. Reference numeral 105 denotes a display device, which is used for confirming a composition when photographing with a digital camera, and for confirming a photographed image during reproduction. In addition, necessary information and the like are displayed on the user interface. Reference numeral 106 denotes a CPU,
The digital camera is centrally controlled according to the control program stored in the digital camera 8. 107 is a CPU for receiving a user's instruction.
An input device for transmitting to the

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow included in the image processing unit 102 for converting a photographed image into a stored image.
The photographed image is stored in step 201 (step 201 in the figure).
, Pre-processing such as color correction is performed. Steps 202 to 204 are means for detecting the validity of the image.
2 is camera shake detection, step 203 is exposure detection, and step 204 is defocus detection. These pieces of information are sent to the validity detection in step 206, and are stored in the image storage unit 103 as image validity information in association with the recorded image.

Step 205 performs post-processing such as conversion to a file format such as JPEG.

The detection of the effectiveness will be described more specifically. The camera shake amount can be calculated by obtaining the edge amount of the entire photographic image. The size of the main subject can be determined by extracting the outline of the image located near the center of the photographic region and determining the size of the extracted outline.

The exposure amount is determined by performing a predetermined calculation from the dynamic range of the image density and the minimum density point to determine whether the exposure amount is appropriate. The dynamic range refers to the difference between the maximum density point and the minimum density point of the density. If the dynamic range is less than the predetermined threshold, it can be determined that the minimum density point is less than the predetermined threshold, that the exposure is insufficient, and the maximum density point is the predetermined density. If it is equal to or more than the threshold value, it can be determined that the exposure is excessive.
If the threshold is provided in a plurality of stages, a plurality of levels can be determined.

Further, out of focus of an image can be determined by detecting the edge amount of the image located near the center of the photographic area. Contrary to the above, the blurring of the background image can be determined by detecting the edge amount of the image located around the photographic area.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the digital camera of this embodiment. When the power is turned on, an initialization process is performed in step 301. Then, in step 302, it is determined whether the mode switch included in the input device is in the photographing mode or the reproduction mode. In the case of the reproducing mode, the reproducing process is performed in step 303, and in the case of the photographing mode, the photographing process is performed in step 304.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detailed flow of the photographing process step 304. Step # 401
Performs a process of displaying the current photographed image. Step 402 monitors the user's instruction, and if there is no instruction, returns to step 401 to update the captured image. When the mode is switched to the playback mode, the main photographing process ends. When the shutter button (release button) is pressed, the flow advances to step 403 to detect the storage capacity in image storage. If the storage capacity is satisfactory, step 404
The image is recorded in step 405, and the process of recording the validity is performed in step 405. If the storage capacity is insufficient, the process proceeds to the connection terminal J1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing before the connection terminal J1 in FIG. At step # 501, a multi-image is selected. In this case, the images are displayed in order from the one with the lowest validity.

The degree of effectiveness is a value calculated by summing the above-mentioned numerical values of camera shake, underexposure, and defocus. Step 502 is a process for displaying the selected image on a multi-screen. FIG. 7 shows a display example of a multi-screen. Images 1 to 9 are captured images, and command keys shown below are valid, camera shake, exposure, focus, and return. A border around image 1 indicates that image 1 is currently selected. An image to be selected or a command key is selected with the up, down, left, and right movement keys on the input device of FIG. It is assumed that the remaining 0 images at the upper right displayed on the display device in FIG. Step 503 is a process for monitoring a user's instruction, and if there is no instruction, it is assumed that a standby state is set.

When an image is selected, one screen is displayed at step # 504. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example of one screen. Delete, compress, and return are prepared as command keys, respectively. Step 505 is an instruction waiting state for monitoring the user's instruction, and when return is selected,
Returning to step # 502, the one-screen display ends. When deletion is selected, the process of deleting the selected image is performed in step 506, the image to be selected in the multi-screen is updated, and the process proceeds to step 509. When the compression is selected, a process of compressing and storing the image again in step 508 is performed, and the flow advances to step 509. Step 509 is a process for updating the remaining number. After the completion of this process, the process returns to step 502 to end the one-screen display process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing before the connection terminal J2 in FIG. That is, the process is performed when the command key shown in FIG. 7 is selected. When the valid key is selected, the process proceeds to step # 601, in which the selection order of the multi images is set to the order of the validity. Similarly, in the case of a camera shake key, multi-images are displayed in the order of the camera shake amount in step # 602, in the case of the exposure key, in the order of the underexposure in step # 603, and in the case of the focus key, in the case of the focus key, the multi-image Update the selection order.

When the command key returns, the photographing process ends. However, when the number of remaining pages to return is 0, the key cannot be selected.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a modification of the multi-screen display. The black border in the drawing is an example of a case where an image that does not reach the value of the predetermined effectiveness, that is, a candidate image to be deleted is displayed.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
When the user tries to take a picture when the storage capacity of the digital camera's image storage is insufficient, the display is automatically switched to the multi-screen display, and the degree of camera shake, underexposure, and out-of-focus is large. Since a possible image is displayed with priority, the user can easily determine an image to be deleted.

In this embodiment, a digital camera that opens a shutter at the start of photographing is assumed. However, some digital cameras close the shutter only at the time of charge transfer of the image pickup device, and some do not have the shutter. In the claims, not when the shutter button is pressed, but in a more general expression "when the release button is pressed".

In the embodiment, the shutter button is set to O
In the case of N, a multi-image indicating a candidate of an image to be deleted is displayed. However, when the storage capacity of the image storage becomes insufficient regardless of the ON state of the shutter button, the candidate of the image to be deleted immediately is displayed. May be displayed so that the image can be deleted. If you do this,
An empty space can be made in the storage means in advance, so that a so-called shutter chance is not missed. In addition, the display of the multi-image indicating the candidate of the image to be deleted may be displayed with some margin, for example, not when the number of remaining images is 0, but in the case of a few remaining images. “Insufficient capacity” in claim
Is used to include the remaining few.

Further, in the embodiment, the validity is a value calculated by a numerical sum of camera shake, underexposure, and out-of-focus, but it is not a mere total but a value calculated by weighting each item. You may.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the storage capacity of image storage is insufficient, camera shake,
An image which is generally considered unnecessary due to insufficient exposure and a large degree of defocus is preferentially displayed, so that an image to be deleted can be easily determined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for converting a captured image into a stored image;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detailed flow of a photographing process;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when the storage capacity is insufficient.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing after a command key is selected in FIG. 7;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of a multi-screen and an example of an input device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a one-screen display and an example of an input device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a modification of the multi-screen display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 shooting unit 102 image processing unit 103 image storage unit 105 display device 106 CPU

Claims (13)

[Claims] A storage means for storing a captured image; a display means for displaying a captured image; a capacity shortage detection means for detecting a capacity shortage of the storage means; and a capacity shortage detection means. And control means for controlling to display the photographed multi-images in order of effectiveness on the display means when detecting is detected. 2. A storage means for storing a captured image, a display means for displaying a captured image, a capacity shortage detection means for detecting a capacity shortage of the storage means, and a capacity shortage detection means. Is detected, the captured multi-images in order of effectiveness are displayed on the display unit together with a command key for ordering image candidates to be deleted from a predetermined viewpoint, and when the command key is selected, An image pickup apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the display order of the multi-images to be changed to the order of image candidates to be deleted from a predetermined viewpoint indicated by the command key. 3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined viewpoint designated by the command key is at least one of an effective order of the images, a camera shake order, an underexposure order, and a defocus order. Imaging device. 4. A storage means for storing a captured image, a display means for displaying a captured image, a capacity shortage detection means for detecting a capacity shortage of the storage means, and a capacity shortage detection means. And a control unit configured to control the display unit to display a captured multi-image in a form that clearly indicates a candidate for an image to be deleted on the display unit when the image is detected. 5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the candidate for the image to be deleted is an image that does not reach a value of a predetermined validity. 6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays a multi-image when the capacity shortage detection unit detects a capacity shortage when a release button is pressed. An imaging device characterized in that the imaging device is controlled so that 7. A photographing unit, a storage unit for storing images photographed by the photographing unit, an index display unit for displaying a plurality of images in the storage unit on the same screen, and detecting a storage capacity of the storage unit. An image capturing apparatus comprising: a storage capacity detecting unit that performs image processing and displays a candidate for an image to be deleted by the index display unit in a shooting mode and when the storage capacity detecting unit detects that the storage capacity is insufficient. An imaging apparatus comprising control means for performing control as described above. 8. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a camera shake image detecting unit for detecting a camera shake image, wherein the camera shake image detected by the camera shake image detecting unit is prioritized as a candidate for the image to be deleted. Characteristic imaging device. 9. The under-exposed image detected by the under-exposed image detection unit as a candidate for the image to be deleted, further comprising an under-exposed image detection unit that detects an under-exposed image. An imaging apparatus characterized in that priority is given to. 10. An image pickup apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising an out-of-focus image detecting means for detecting an out-of-focus image,
An image pickup apparatus, wherein priority is given to a defocused image detected by the out-of-focus image detection means as a candidate for the image to be deleted. 11. An image pickup apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a camera shake image detecting means for detecting a camera shake image, an underexposed image detecting means for detecting an underexposed image, a defocused image detecting means for detecting a defocused image, Means for assigning a priority to an image obtained by each of the detection means, and setting an image according to the assigned priority as the candidate for the image to be deleted. 12. A step A for detecting a shortage of capacity of a storage means for storing a shot image, and when the shortage of capacity is detected in the step A, a shot multi-image in order of effectiveness is displayed on a display means. And a step C of deleting the image while viewing the multi-image displayed in the step B. 13. A step A for detecting a shortage of capacity of a storage unit for storing a shot image, and, when the shortage of capacity is detected in the step A, an image candidate which is to be deleted is specified in a form to clearly indicate a candidate for an image to be deleted. A method for deleting an image, comprising: a step B of displaying a multi-image; and a step C of deleting the image while viewing the multi-image in the step B.