JP2009027214A - Image output device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image output device that enables a user to perform an output of a digital image and the color correction of the output by a remote controller having buttons of. <P>SOLUTION: The image output device (digital camera 10) whose operation is controlled by a control command outputted from the remote controller 20 having the four buttons 22a to 22d of red, green, blue and yellow comprises an image controller 103 which outputs the digital image to a display 40, a color corrector 104 which corrects colors of the output image from the image controller 103, a remote controller I/F 11, and a command controller 102 which changes over and executes an image display mode and a color adjustment mode according to the control commands, and the command controller 102 allocates a control command corresponding to the yellow button 22d to changeover the image display mode and the color adjustment mode and also allocates control commands corresponding to the red button, the green button and the blue button 22a to 22c for the adjustment of red, green, and blue, respectively, when the color adjustment mode is selected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image output apparatus that outputs a digital image as a video.

Conventionally, a digital image is output as a video from an image output device such as a digital camera and displayed on a display / playback device such as a television monitor. As an image quality adjustment operation displayed on a television monitor, a method using a setting on the television monitor side and a technique using a television remote control are disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2005-175863 A

  There is an error between the color of a digital image displayed on a display / playback device such as a television monitor and the original color output by an image output device that outputs a digital image. This is because each display / playback apparatus has unique playback characteristics and is affected by ambient light. As a solution, the display color is adjusted. There are two display color adjustment methods: a method using the color adjustment function of the television monitor itself and a method using the color adjustment function on the image output device side. However, the former case is inconvenient because it is necessary to return to the original color when switching to the TV program viewing mode after color adjustment. In the case of the latter image output device, there is a problem that it is inconvenient because it is necessary to stand up each time setting is performed because the setting button and the like are provided on the image output device.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an image output apparatus configured to be able to output a digital image and correct the color of the output by a remote controller having at least four buttons. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an image output apparatus according to the present invention (for example, the digital camera 10 in the embodiment) is output from a remote controller having at least four buttons (for example, the color button 22 in the embodiment). The operation is controlled by a control command corresponding to each of the buttons, and an image output function (for example, the image controller 103 in the embodiment) that outputs a digital image to a display reproduction device (for example, the display 40 in the embodiment). And a color correction function (for example, the color in the embodiment) that corrects the color of the output image to the display / playback apparatus by the image output function by the correction information (for example, the color correction data stored in the color correction table 110 in the embodiment). Corrector 104) and a remote control that receives a control command output from the remote control Interface function (for example, the remote control I / F 11 in the embodiment), an image display mode for outputting a digital image to the display / playback apparatus, and a tone mode for setting correction information in accordance with a control command received by the remote control interface function. And a command control function (for example, the command controller 102 in the embodiment) to be switched and executed. The command control function assigns a control command corresponding to any one of the four buttons to the switching between the image display mode and the color adjustment mode, and each of the control commands corresponding to the remaining three of the four buttons. Are assigned to blue, red and green adjustments when the color adjustment mode is selected.

  In such an image output apparatus according to the present invention, the remote control has buttons of four colors of blue, red, green, and yellow, and the command control function sends a control command corresponding to the yellow button to the image display mode and Assigned to color adjustment mode switching and configured to assign each control command corresponding to blue, red, and green buttons to blue, red, and green adjustments when color adjustment mode is selected Is preferred.

  Further, such an image output apparatus according to the present invention has a storage unit (for example, the memory card 108 in the embodiment) for storing correction information, and when the color adjustment mode is selected for the command control function. The correction information is preferably written to and read from the storage unit in response to one of the remote control commands.

  When the image output apparatus according to the present invention is configured as described above, the adjustment of the color display error between the image output apparatus and the display / playback apparatus can be performed remotely using a remote control having at least four buttons (for example, a TV remote control). Can be operated. In particular, when a home television is used as the display / playback device, the image output device according to the present invention is operated by only four buttons of the “blue, red, green, yellow” buttons of the television remote control provided as standard on the television. The same operation can be performed with any manufacturer's remote control.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a method for using the image output apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, a digital camera will be described as an example of the image output device. The digital camera 10 is connected to a display 40 of a display / playback apparatus via a video output line 30. As a method of displaying an image from the digital camera 10 on the display 40, a color adjustment mode M1 for displaying a color chart image and performing a color adjustment operation, and a normal image (such as a digital image taken by the digital camera 10) are displayed. There are two image display modes M2, which can be arbitrarily switched by a user operation. The display 40 may be a device such as a high-definition television or a projector. The video output line 30 may be wireless or wired. The digital camera 10 has a remote control I / F 11 that receives infrared rays from the remote control 20. Using the TV remote controller 20, the color adjustment mode M1 or the normal image mode M2 can be switched and color adjustment operations can be performed.

  In this embodiment, a general television remote controller as shown in FIG. The remote controller 20 includes a light emitting unit 21 for performing infrared communication, a color button 22 for four colors of blue, red, green, and yellow, and a power button 23 for performing an operation of turning on / off a TV monitor. A channel selection button 24 for directly selecting a television program, a channel switching button 25 for switching the channel of the television program, and a volume button 26 for adjusting the volume of the television are provided. In this embodiment, only the blue, red, green and yellow color buttons 22 are used to operate the digital camera 10 and the other buttons 23 to 26 are not used.

  The functional configuration of the digital camera 10 will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. The digital camera 10 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as “CPU”) 101, a command controller 102, an image controller 103, a color corrector 104, a video output unit 105, a memory controller 106, a dynamic random access memory ( (Hereinafter referred to as “DRAM”) 107, a memory card 108, a color chart memory 109, and a color correction table 110, and the above-described remote control I / F 11. Although not shown in FIG. 3, the digital camera 10 has an optical system and an image sensor, and detects an image formed on the image pickup surface of the image sensor by the optical system. The digital image is stored and recorded in the DRAM 107 or the memory card 108 as an image.

  The CPU 101 controls the remote control I / F 11, the command controller 102, the image generator 103, and the memory controller 106. Note that the remote control I / F 11 is a device for performing infrared communication with the remote control 20 and performs processing by interrupting the CPU 101 by operating the remote control 20. When the remote controller I / F 11 receives a control command from the remote controller 20, the control command is passed to the command controller 102 for processing. In this embodiment, since only the control commands corresponding to the blue button 22a, the red button 22b, the green button 22c, and the yellow button 22d of the remote controller 20 are used as described above, the command controller 102 Control commands corresponding to those other than the color buttons 22 are not processed.

  The image controller 103 is controlled by the CPU 101 to read a digital image stored in the DRAM 107 or the memory card 108 via the memory controller 106 and display it on the display 40 via the video output unit 105. . At this time, the output of the image controller 103 is once input to the color corrector 104. The color corrector 104 reads out the color correction data stored in the color correction table 110 via the memory controller 106, and as shown in FIG. 4, this color correction data (the color information of red, green, and blue is the color information). The output image is adjusted in accordance with “R value”, “G value”, and “B value”, respectively, and then the digital image is output to the display 40 via the video output unit 105. It is configured.

  As described above, the screen displayed on the display 40 by the digital camera 10 via the video output line 30 is a normal image display mode in which a digital image that has been shot and stored in the DRAM 107 or the memory card 108 is displayed. M2 and a color adjustment mode M1 for performing color adjustment. FIG. 5 shows the digital image 301 displayed on the display 40 in the normal image display mode M2. On the display 40, a digital image 301, an image date, a comment 302, and the like are displayed. In addition, a notation 303 for shifting to the color adjustment mode M1 is arranged. If the yellow button 22d of the remote controller 20 is pressed while this screen is displayed, the command controller 102 processes the control command, and instructs the image controller 103 to switch to the color adjustment mode M1.

  On the other hand, FIG. 6 shows a case where the color adjustment screen G1 is displayed on the display 20 by the image controller 103 in the color adjustment mode M1. A reference color chart 401 is displayed on the color adjustment screen G1, and red, green, and blue color correction values (color correction data stored in the color correction table 110) display 402 to 404, and color Notations 405 to 406 indicating processing modes in the adjustment mode M1 are arranged. As will be described later, the setting contents of the color adjustment being edited in the color adjustment mode M1 can be saved with a name, so the name currently in use is displayed in the upper part 410. The color chart 401 is read from the color chart memory 109 via the memory controller 106 and displayed.

  Next, operations and processing in the color adjustment mode M1 will be described. When the yellow button 22d is pressed in the color adjustment mode M1, as shown in FIG. 7, the command controller 102 changes the processing mode from “up mode M11” → “down mode M12” → “save mode M13” → It is configured to shift from “read mode M14” to “return mode M15” and to return to the up mode M11 when the yellow button 22d is pressed again in the return mode M15.

  The up mode M11 indicates that the color correction data is incremented by one step by the color adjustment operation. Conversely, the down mode M12 indicates that the color correction data is decremented by one step. In any processing mode, the color adjustment screen G1 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed. In the color adjustment screen G1, the color adjustment operation is performed by the blue button 22a, the red button 22b, and the green button 22c among the color buttons 22 of the remote controller 20.

  FIG. 8 illustrates processing of the command controller 102 when the processing mode is the up mode M11 or the down mode M12. When the control command delivered from the remote control I / F 11 corresponds to the blue button 22a, red button 22b, or green button 22c, the command controller 102 determines whether the current display mode is the image display mode M2. It is determined whether the adjustment mode is M1 (step S501), and if it is the image display mode M2, the process is terminated without performing any processing. On the other hand, if the display mode is the color adjustment mode M1, it is next determined whether the current processing mode is the up mode M11 or the down mode M12 (step S502), and a mode other than the up mode M11 or the down mode M12 is determined. In the case of (save mode M13, read mode M14, or return mode M15), the processing described later is executed (step S503).

  When the red button 22b is pressed, if the processing mode is the up mode M11, the red value of the color correction table 110 is incremented by one step via the memory controller 106 (step S504). In the down mode M12, the red value of the color correction table 110 is decreased step by step (step S505). Similarly, in the case of the blue button 22a, the blue value in the color correction table 110 is increased or decreased by one step, and in the case of the green button 22c, the green value in the color correction table 110 is increased or decreased by one step. Finally, the changed value of the color correction table 110 is used by the color corrector 104 as a correction value when displayed, and a color chart 401 corresponding to the color information of the current color correction table 110 is displayed on the display 40. It is displayed (step S506).

  In the storage mode M13, the color correction data being adjusted (color correction data stored in the color correction table 110) can be stored in the memory card 108. When this mode is selected, the command controller 102 is selected. Controls the image controller 103 to display the screen G2 shown in FIG. When the red button 22b of the remote controller 20 is pressed while the screen G2 is displayed, a file save dialog (not shown) is displayed, and this color correction data can be saved with a name. Specific processing (corresponding to “processing S503 in other mode” in FIG. 8) will be described with reference to FIG. First, the user selects a file name to be added to the color correction data (step S601). Then, it is checked whether the same file name exists in the memory card 108 (step S602). At this time, if a file with the same name exists, overwriting is confirmed (step S603), and if not overwritten, the process ends without doing anything. On the other hand, when overwriting and when the same name does not exist, the color correction data is read from the color correction table 110 (step S604), and the read data is stored in the memory card 108 (step S605).

  In the read mode M14, the color correction data stored in the memory card 108 in the above-described storage mode M13 can be read and set in the color correction table 110, and the screen G3 shown in FIG. 11 is displayed. In the reading mode M14, when the red button 22b of the remote controller 20 is pressed, the command controller 102 displays a dialog for opening a file (not shown), selects the file, and reads the color correction data into the color correction table 110. Can do. Specific processing (corresponding to “processing S503 in other mode” in FIG. 8) will be described with reference to FIG. First, the user selects a color correction data file to be read (step S701). Then, the selected file is read from the memory card 108 as color correction data (step S702), and the read color correction data is set in the color correction table 110 (step S703). Note that the file name of the read file is displayed on the color adjustment screen G1.

  The return mode M15 ends the color adjustment mode M1, and displays the screen G4 shown in FIG. 13 to confirm the end. That is, in this return mode M15, when the red button 22b of the remote controller 20 is pressed, the command controller 102 switches to the normal image display mode M2, and when the yellow button 22d is pressed, it is shown in FIG. Thus, the mode is switched to the up mode M11.

  The relationship between the color button 22 of the remote controller 20 described above and the processing in the color adjustment mode M1 and the image display mode M2 is summarized in FIGS.

  As described above, according to the digital camera 10 according to the present embodiment, the color display error between the image output device (digital camera 10) and the display / playback device (display 20) is adjusted, and the remote controller including the four color buttons 22 is provided. (For example, a television remote control) can be used for remote control. At this time, when a home television is used as a display / playback device, the television remote control can be used for the operation of the digital camera 10, and “blue, red, green” provided as standard on the remote control can be used. ”Yellow” button can be operated with only four buttons (color button 22). Therefore, as long as the remote controller 20 includes these color buttons 22, the color adjustment can be performed by the same operation with any manufacturer's remote controller.

  Note that the color button 22 of the above-described TV operation remote control is not normally assigned to turning on / off the TV or switching channels, so when the digital camera 10 is connected to display an image. Even if the color button 22 is operated, the possibility of affecting the operation of the television is low. Further, when such a TV remote control or the like is used for the operation of the digital camera 10, it is necessary for the digital camera 10 to learn the control command pattern of the remote control in advance.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the usage method of the image output device (digital camera) which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the remote control used for the said digital camera. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the said digital camera. It is explanatory drawing explaining the data structure of a color correction table. It is explanatory drawing which shows the display state at the time of image display mode. It is explanatory drawing which shows the display state at the time of color adjustment mode. It is explanatory drawing which shows the transition of the processing mode at the time of color adjustment mode. It is a flowchart which shows the process at the time of up mode and down mode. It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen in a preservation | save mode. It is a flowchart which shows the process at the time of a preservation | save mode. It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen in reading mode. It is a flowchart which shows the process at the time of reading mode. It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen in return mode. It is a table | surface which shows a response | compatibility with the color button in an image display mode, and a process. It is a table | surface which shows a response | compatibility with the color button in a color adjustment mode, and a process.

Explanation of symbols

10 Digital camera (image output device)
11 Remote control I / F (Remote control interface function)
20 Remote Controller 22 Color Button 22a Blue Button 22b Red Button 22c Green Button 22d Yellow Button 40 Display (Display / Playback Device) 102 Command Controller (Command Control Function)
103 Image controller (image output function) 104 Color corrector (color correction function)
108 Memory card (storage unit) 110 Color correction table (correction information)
M1 color adjustment mode M2 image display mode

Claims (3)

An image output device whose operation is controlled by a control command corresponding to each of the buttons output from a remote controller having at least four buttons,
An image output function for outputting a digital image to a display reproduction device;
A color correction function for correcting the color of the output image to the display / playback device by the image output function by correction information;
A remote control interface function for receiving the control command output from the remote control;
A command control function for switching and executing an image display mode for outputting the digital image to the display / playback device and a color adjustment mode for setting the correction information in accordance with the control command received by the remote control interface function; Have
The command control function is
Assigning the control command corresponding to any one of the four buttons to switching between the image display mode and the color adjustment mode;
An image output device configured to assign each of the control commands corresponding to the remaining three of the four buttons to blue, red, and green adjustments when the color adjustment mode is selected. The remote control has buttons of four colors of blue, red, green and yellow,
The command control function is
Assigning the control command corresponding to the yellow button to switching between the image display mode and the color adjustment mode;
The control command according to claim 1, wherein each of the control commands corresponding to the blue, red, and green buttons is assigned to blue, red, and green adjustment when the color adjustment mode is selected. Image output device. A storage unit for storing the correction information;
The control command function is configured to write and read the correction information to and from the storage unit in response to any of the control commands of the remote controller when the color adjustment mode is selected. The image output apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

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