JP2009194766A - Communications system - Google Patents

Abstract

【Task】
The image data can be transmitted to an appropriate storage destination without specifically specifying the storage destination.
[Solution]
The photographing preference determination device 24 determines the photographing preference from the history of camera control information and the history of the photographed subject. The shooting level determination device 26 determines the shooting level from the history of the camera control information. The community server 40 includes storage devices 42 to 48 for each community and a changeover switch 52 that selects the storage devices 42 to 48. The switch control device 50 controls the changeover switch 52 according to the shooting preference, the shooting level, and the main body information transmitted from the imaging device 10. The recording / reproducing apparatus 14 transmits the captured image recorded on the recording medium 18 to the community server 40.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system, and more particularly, to a communication system that realizes management of captured images according to a user's shooting preference and shooting level.

  Currently, there are various systems that share images among a plurality of users on a network. For example, the user can use the communication function of the personal computer to access the image sharing system and browse or download images taken by others. In addition, there is an image sharing system in which a form in which characters can be written is installed in order to have a conversation between people accessing the image sharing system.

  In such an image sharing system, a user group is generally formed for each field. Hereinafter, such a group is called a community. For example, people who are interested in “plants” form a community (in other words, “plant community”) and share images related to “plants” and exchange topics related to “plants” within the plant community. can do.

A technique for transferring an image from a digital camera to a specific community of an image sharing system is described in Patent Document 1. A digital camera is equipped with a function of transmitting or uploading a captured image to a shared server of a community designated by a user.
JP 2005-286438 A

  It is difficult for an existing user interface of a camera to select a desired community as a transmission destination from a plurality of communities to which a user belongs. Therefore, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a user's computer is interposed for this purpose.

  An object of the present invention is to present a communication system that can transmit or transfer a captured image to an appropriate storage destination of a file server with a simple effort in view of the peculiarity that a transmission target is a captured image.

  The communication system according to the present invention is a communication system including an imaging device and a file server, wherein the imaging device images an object and outputs a video signal, and imaging control information of the imaging device. History recording means for recording a history, identification information generating means for generating identification information including any of the photographing level and photographing preference of the photographer according to the history of the photographing control information, and communication means for communicating with the file server And a communication means for transmitting the identification information to the file server, wherein the file server connects a plurality of storage devices and any one of the plurality of storage devices to the imaging device. And a switch control unit that receives the identification information and controls the changeover switch in accordance with the identification information.

  According to the present invention, an appropriate one is selected from a plurality of storage devices according to the photographer's photographing preference and photographing level. As a result, the trouble of selecting a suitable storage destination from a plurality of storage destinations can be saved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention. In the present embodiment, the imaging device 10 selects a transmission destination community according to the shooting level and the shooting preference.

  In one embodiment of the communication system according to the present invention, the imaging device 10 is connected to the community server 40 via the network 60. The community server 40 includes storage devices 42, 44, 46, and 48 that are divided for each community. Needless to say, the storage devices 42 to 48 are logically partitioned, and may physically consist of a single storage device or a plurality of storage devices.

  The configuration and operation of the imaging apparatus 10 will be described. The camera unit 12 converts the optical image of the subject into an electrical signal, and outputs the video signal of the subject to the recording / reproducing device 14 and the subject determination device 16. The camera unit 12 also outputs camera control information (more generally, shooting control information) to a camera control information history recording device 22 as shooting control information history recording means. The camera control information includes, for example, a zoom value, an exposure value, a shutter speed, a focal length, a subject distance, and the like.

  The recording / reproducing device 14 compresses the video signal from the camera unit 12 in a predetermined format and records it on the recording medium 18. As will be described later, the recording / reproducing apparatus 14 also has a function of recording image information from the community server 40 on the recording medium 18. The recording / reproducing apparatus 14 has a function of outputting image data recorded on the recording medium 18 in a compressed format or after being decompressed.

  The subject determination device 16 determines the type (for example, person, flower, mountain, etc.) of the subject included in the video signal by image recognition. The subject information history recording device 20 accumulates and records the subject type information determined by the subject determination device 16 in a recording medium built in as metadata. The camera control information history recording device 22 accumulates and records camera control information of the camera unit 12 in a recording medium built in as metadata.

  The photographing preference determination device 24 uses the camera control information recorded in the camera control information history recording device 22 within a certain past period and the subject information recorded within the subject information history recording device 20 within the past certain period. The shooting preference of is determined. The shooting level determination device 26 determines the shooting level according to the past camera control information history recorded in the camera control information history recording device 22. The shooting level is, for example, an index representing the skill of shooting.

  In the operation mode, the display device 28 displays a video to be recorded by the recording / playback device 14, a video being recorded and a video to be played back, and a menu screen for setting the imaging device 10. .

  The storage devices 42, 44, 46, and 48 of the community server 40 store the shared data of the communities A, B, C, and D, respectively. As described above, a community refers to a group formed by gathering people with similar preferences on a network. In each community place, people who participate in the community can write opinions and share images, for example. In the storage devices 42, 44, 46, and 48, character information and image information written by people who participate in the communities A, B, C, and D are recorded, respectively.

  The imaging apparatus 10 includes a communication unit connected to the network 60, and the shooting level, the main body information, and the shooting preference are transmitted to the community server 40 through the communication unit. The recording / reproducing apparatus 14 is connected to the network 60 via the communication means, and transmits / receives image data to / from the community server 40.

  The shooting level, the main body information, and the shooting preference are examples of identification information defined in the claims. The identification information generating means defined in the claims comprises a photographing preference determining device 24, a photographing level determining device 26, and a means for storing and outputting main body information.

  In addition to the storage devices 42 to 48, the community server 40 includes a changeover switch 52 that switches the storage devices 42 to 48 and a switch control device 50 that controls the changeover switch 52. The switch control device 50 switches according to the shooting preference by the shooting preference determination device 24 and the shooting level by the shooting level determination device 26 so as to connect the storage devices 42 to 48 of the community suitable for these to the recording / playback device 14. 52 is controlled. The imaging device 10 also supplies main body information of the imaging device 10 to the switch control device 50. The main body information includes, for example, metadata such as the manufacturer name, model name, and model grade of the imaging apparatus 10.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the camera unit 12. The imaging lens 70 forms an optical image of the subject on the imaging surface of the imaging device 72, and the imaging device 72 outputs an image signal corresponding to the optical image of the subject. The imaging lens 70 can control its optical zoom value and focus. The A / D converter 74 converts the analog image signal output from the image sensor 72 into a digital image signal. The camera signal processing device 76 performs known camera signal processing such as γ correction, exposure adjustment and white balance on the digital image signal from the A / D converter 74 and outputs a video signal in a predetermined format.

  In addition to controlling the optical zoom and focus of the imaging lens 70, the camera control device 78 controls the entire camera unit 12 and outputs camera control information at the time of shooting. The camera control information includes, for example, control data of each module constituting the camera unit 12 as shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows an example of camera control information for a plurality of shooting dates. For example, the control data of the imaging lens 70 includes exposure time, aperture value, and focus distance. The camera control information also includes information on the shooting mode. Examples of the shooting mode include an aperture priority mode and a portrait mode. For example, the aperture priority mode is a mode in which the user manually sets the aperture value and other camera control is automatically performed. The portrait mode is a shooting mode that performs camera control suitable for shooting a person so that the person can take a beautiful shot.

  The camera control information history recording device 22 (FIG. 1) cumulatively records camera control information (FIG. 3) output from the camera control device 78 by a certain number.

  With reference to FIG. 4, operations of the subject determination device 16 and the subject information history recording device 20 will be described. FIG. 4 shows an example of the determination result of the subject determination device 16.

  The subject determination device 16 determines the type of the subject being photographed by image recognition. Since a known method such as shape recognition can be used for image recognition, detailed description thereof is omitted. The subject information history recording device 20 counts the type of subject determined by the subject determination device 16 for each shooting date, and records it as a subject information history on a built-in recording medium. In the example shown in FIG. 4, “flower” is photographed five times as a subject on October 10, 2006. On January 25, 2007, “person” was photographed four times as a subject.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the number of shootings is recorded as the subject information history will be described. For example, the subject information history in the case of a moving image includes a value obtained by integrating the length of time during which a certain subject is shot. .

  The photographing preference determination device 24 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The photographing preference determination device 24 responds to the history of camera control information recorded in the camera control information history recording device 22 (FIG. 3) and the history of subject information recorded in the subject information history recording device 20 (FIG. 4). To determine the shooting preference. The shooting preference includes a shooting technique preference indicating a shooting technique preference and a shooting subject preference indicating a shooting subject preference.

  First, an operation for determining the photographing technique preference according to the camera control information history will be described. The photographing preference determination device 24 calculates camera control information of the maximum photographing frequency with respect to the camera control information history recorded in the camera control information history recording device 22, and the photographer likes the photographing method that the photographer likes. Suppose that For example, when the number of times of shooting with the far focus is the largest, the shooting preference determination device 24 determines that the shooting method with the far focus is the photographer's preference and transmits it to the switch control device 50 of the community server 40. . The far-field shooting method is a method of shooting a distant subject (for example, a landscape such as a mountain), for example.

  On the other hand, when the number of times of shooting with the focus in the vicinity is the largest, the shooting preference determination device 24 determines that the shooting method with the focus in the vicinity is the photographer's preference, and transmits it to the switch control device 50. The photographing method with the focus in the vicinity is, for example, a photographing method for taking a close-up subject (for example, a flower).

  In addition, when the number of times of photographing is the highest when the shutter speed is extremely slow, the photographing preference determination device 24 determines that the photographing method with the slow shutter speed is the photographer's preference and transmits it to the switch control device 50. The photographing method with a slow shutter speed is a method for bulb photographing of a subject with a small amount of light (for example, a starry sky).

  An example will be described in which the preference of the photographic subject is determined according to the subject information history recorded in the subject information history recording device 20. The photographing preference determination device 24 calculates subject information having the largest number of photographing times with respect to the subject information history recorded in the subject information history recording device 20, and sets the subject information as a photographing subject preferred by the photographer. For example, when the subject with the largest number of shots is “flower”, the shooting preference determination device 24 determines that the shooting subject “flower” is a favorite, and displays information indicating “flower” as the favorite shooting subject. It transmits to the switch control apparatus 50.

  With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, the role and operation of the photographing level determination device 26 will be described. The shooting level determination device 26 determines the shooting level according to the number of shootings between manual shooting and auto shooting. FIG. 5 shows an operation flowchart of the photographing level determination device 26. FIG. 6 is a display example of the shooting level determined by the shooting level determination device 26.

  The photographing level determination device 26 takes in the camera control information history recorded in the camera control information history recording device 22 (S1). The shooting frequency in the manual mode is analyzed from the captured camera control information history (S2). When the number of shootings in the manual mode is greater than a predetermined value (S2), it is determined that the shooting level is equivalent to “advanced” (S3), and the determination result is transmitted to the switch control device 50.

  When the number of shootings in the manual mode is less than a predetermined value (S2), the shooting frequency in the auto or semi-auto shooting mode such as aperture priority or shutter speed priority is analyzed (S4). When the number of shootings in the auto or semi-auto shooting mode is greater than a predetermined value (S4), it is determined that the shooting level is equivalent to “intermediate” (S5), and the determination result is transmitted to the switch control device 50. .

  When the number of times of photographing in the auto or semi-automatic photographing mode is less than a predetermined value (S4), the number of times of photographing itself is analyzed (S6). If the number of times of shooting is greater than a predetermined value (S6), it is determined that the shooting level is equivalent to “Beginner” (S7), and this determination result is transmitted to the switch control device 50. When the number of shootings is less than a predetermined value (S6), it is determined that the shooting level is equivalent to “Introduction” (S8), and the determination result is transmitted to the switch control device 50.

  A photographing level meter indicating the photographing level as shown in FIG. 6 may be displayed on the display device 28 so that the photographer can confirm the photographing level determined by the photographing level determining device 26. Further, when the photographing level changes, this photographing level meter may be displayed so that the photographer can confirm.

  You may consider the grade of an imaging device regarding an imaging | photography level. For example, a high-end model such as a single-lens camera is determined to be generally advanced, and a low-end model such as a compact camera is generally determined to be close to a beginner.

  The shooting preference determination device 24 and the shooting level determination device 26 include date information in the camera control information history and the subject information history. Therefore, the imaging preference determination device 24 may determine the imaging preference according to the camera control information history limited to a certain period. Similarly, the shooting level determination device 26 may also determine the shooting level according to the camera control information history and the subject information history limited to a certain period. The determination target periods of the photographing preference determination device 24 and the photographing level determination device 26 may be different from each other, but the same one is a unified process. For example, the photographing preference and the photographing level are determined according to the camera control information history and the subject information history for the past year.

  It should be noted that the subject information history recorded in the subject information history recording device 20 and the camera control information history recorded in the camera control information history recording device 22 are added to the built-in storage device each time shooting is performed. Accumulated in. As a result, the shooting preference determined by the shooting preference determination device 24 and the shooting level determined by the shooting level determination device 26 may change each time shooting is performed.

  When multiple people use the same imaging device, individual users are identified by well-known user authentication methods such as pupils, fingerprints, finger veins or face recognition, and the captured images, imaging preferences, and imaging levels are managed for each user. Just do it. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of determination results of shooting preference and shooting level when four users use the same imaging device. In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, Jiro's shooting technique preference is “auto”, the shooting subject preference is “people”, and the shooting level is introductory. In addition, Hanako's shooting technique preference is “near focus”, the shooting subject preference is “flower”, and the shooting level is beginner.

  The switch control device 50 of the community server 40 receives information on shooting preference and shooting level from the imaging device 10 connected via the network 60, and selects a community that matches the shooting preference and / or shooting level. In response to the selection of the community, the switch control device 50 controls the changeover switch 52 so as to connect the storage devices 42 to 48 of the selected community to the recording / reproducing device 14 of the imaging device 10.

  FIG. 8 shows classification examples of the communities A, B, C, and D corresponding to the shooting method preference, the shooting subject preference, and the shooting level, respectively.

  FIG. 8A shows a classification example of the communities A, B, C, and D focusing on the photographing technique preference. In the example shown in FIG. 8A, the community A (storage device 42) is assigned to the “far away” community. Community B (storage device 44) is assigned to the “near focus” community. Community C (storage device 46) is assigned to the “low aperture value” community. Community D (storage device 48) is assigned to the “auto shooting” community.

  The switch control device 50 selects a community that matches the photographing technique preference from the photographing preference determination device 24, and controls the changeover switch 52 so that the storage device of the selected community is connected to the imaging device 10. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8A, when the imaging method preference is “near focus”, the changeover switch 52 selects the storage device 44 (community B).

  FIG. 8B shows a classification example of the communities A, B, C, and D according to the shooting subject preference. In the example shown in FIG. 8B, community A (storage device 42) is assigned to the “flower” community. Community B (storage device 44) is assigned to an “empty” community. Community C (storage device 46) is assigned to the “mountain” community. Community D (storage device 48) is assigned to the “people” community.

  The switch control device 50 selects a community that matches the photographing technique preference from the photographing preference determination device 24, and controls the changeover switch 52 so that the storage device of the selected community is connected to the imaging device 10. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8B, when the shooting subject preference is “person”, the changeover switch 52 selects the storage device 48 (community D).

  FIG. 8C shows an example of classification of communities A, B, C, and D according to the level to be photographed. In the example shown in FIG. 8C, the community A (storage device 42) is assigned to the “entry” community. Community B (storage device 44) is assigned to the “beginner” community. Community C (storage device 46) is assigned to the “intermediate” community. Community D (storage device 48) is assigned to the “advanced” community.

  The switch control device 50 selects a community that matches the shooting level from the shooting level determination device 26 and controls the changeover switch 52 so that the storage device of the selected community is connected to the imaging device 10. In the example shown in FIG. 8C, when the shooting level is “intermediate”, the changeover switch 52 selects the storage device 48 (community C).

  The switch control device 50 may select a community according to the model of the imaging device 10 as well as the imaging preference and the imaging level. For example, it is assumed that there is a community for each model of the imaging device, “Camera A” and “Camera B”. In this case, the switch control device 50 analyzes the model name included in the main body information from the connected imaging device 10 and causes the changeover switch 52 to select a community storage device corresponding to the model name.

  The user can specify in advance whether the switch control device 50 selects a community according to the shooting method preference, the shooting subject preference, the shooting level, and the model. For example, when the imaging device 10 is connected to the community server 40 via the network 60, the user may be allowed to select. Alternatively, it may be set in advance in part of the main body information of the imaging device 10 or in the community server 40.

  It is also possible to allow the user to individually specify the shooting method preference, shooting subject preference, shooting level, and model combination method. When there is a community that combines the shooting preference and the shooting level, the switch control device 50 selects a community that matches both the shooting preference and the shooting level. For example, if there is a community whose shooting subject preference is “flower” and shooting level is “beginning”, the switch control device 50 has a shooting subject preference of “flower” and a shooting level of “flower”. In the case of “Beginner”, the storage device of this community is connected to the imaging device.

  As described above, the community is selected according to the shooting preference or shooting level of the photographer, so that the imaging device 10 is connected to a community storage device that matches the shooting preference and shooting level of the photographer. The Then, the captured image of the imaging device 10 is transferred from the recording / reproducing device 14 of the imaging device 10 to a storage device in a community that is suitable for the shooting preference and the shooting level of the photographer. Conversely, the shared image stored in the community storage device is transferred from the community storage device suitable for the photographer's shooting preference and shooting level to the recording / playback device 14 of the imaging device 10. In this way, it is possible to share a captured image of oneself and a captured image of another person within a community specified by a shooting preference and a shooting level.

  With reference to FIG. 9, the recording process of the camera photographing information history and the subject information history will be described.

  When shooting is started (S11), the subject determination device 16 determines a subject included in the shot video (S12). The subject information history recording device 20 accumulates and records the subject information determined by the subject determination device 16 on the internal recording medium (S13). Further, the camera control information history recording device 22 sequentially records the camera control information from the camera unit 12 on a built-in recording medium (S14). The above steps S12 to S14 are repeated until the end of photographing (S15).

  FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of processing for selecting a community according to the shooting level and shooting preference. With the menu screen or the like, the imaging device 10 can set in advance whether the community of the community server 40 is automatically selected or manually selected when the imaging device 10 is connected to the community server 40.

  The imaging device 10 connects to the community server 40 via the network 60 (S21). The setting of automatic selection / manual selection of the community is confirmed (S22). When manual selection is set (S22), the user of the imaging device 10 selects a destination community (storage device) by using various operation keys provided in the imaging device 10 (S23).

  When automatic selection is set (S22), the imaging preference determination device 24 determines the imaging preference from the camera control information history of the camera control information history recording device 22 and the subject information history of the subject information history recording device 20. The determination result is transmitted to the community server 40 (S24). The shooting level determination device 26 determines the shooting level from the camera control information history, and transmits the determination result to the community server 40 (S25). The switch control device 50 of the community server 40 connects a storage device of a community that conforms to the imaging preference and the imaging level from the imaging device 10 to the imaging device 10.

  After the transmission destination storage device is selected manually or automatically as described above, the imaging device 10 transmits the captured image data to the selected storage device.

  Although the embodiment disclosed in the community has been described, the present invention can also be applied to a case where an appropriate storage destination is automatically selected and uploaded to the server in accordance with any of the shooting preference, the shooting level, and the main body information. is there. That is, the present invention can be applied to a file server that stores image data instead of the community server 40. The community server 40 is an example of a file server.

It is a schematic block diagram of one Example of this invention. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a camera unit 12. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a camera control information log | history. It is a figure which shows the example of subject information history. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of an imaging | photography level determination apparatus. It is a schematic diagram of a photographing level meter. It is a figure which shows the example of the photography preference and photography level for every user. It is a figure which shows the example of classification | category of a community. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which records a to-be-photographed object information and camera control information. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which selects a community.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Imaging device 12 Camera part 14 Video recording device 16 Subject determination device 18 Recording medium 20 Subject information history recording device 22 Camera control information history recording device 24 Shooting preference determination device 26 Shooting level determination device 28 Display device 40 Community server 42 Community A Storage device 44 community B storage device 46 community C storage device 48 community D storage device 50 switch control device 52 changeover switch 60 network 70 photographing lens 72 image sensor 74 A / D converter 76 camera signal processing device 78 camera control apparatus

Claims (12)

A communication system comprising an imaging device and a file server,
The imaging device is
Imaging means for imaging a subject and outputting a video signal;
History recording means for recording a history of imaging control information of the imaging means;
According to the history of the shooting control information, identification information generating means for generating identification information including any of the shooting level and shooting preference of the photographer;
Communication means for communicating with the file server, comprising communication means for transmitting the identification information to the file server;
The file server is
A plurality of storage devices;
A changeover switch for connecting any one of the plurality of storage devices to the imaging device;
A communication system comprising: switch control means for receiving the identification information and controlling the changeover switch according to the identification information.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the identification information generation unit includes a shooting preference determination unit that determines the shooting preference according to a history of the shooting control information.   The imaging preference determination unit determines an imaging technique corresponding to imaging control information with the maximum imaging frequency as an imaging technique preference of the imaging preference based on a history of the imaging control information. The communication system described.   The identification information generating means determines a photographing preference according to a subject determining means for determining a subject from the video by the imaging means, and a history of the photographing control information and a history of the subject determined by the subject determining means. The communication system according to claim 1, further comprising photographing preference determination means.   The shooting preference determination unit determines a shooting method according to shooting control information with the maximum shooting frequency as the shooting method preference of the shooting preference based on the shooting control information history, and is determined by the subject determination unit. 5. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein subject information having a maximum photographing frequency is determined as a photographing subject preference of the photographing preference based on a history of subject information.   The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the identification information generation unit includes a shooting level determination unit that determines the shooting level according to a history of the shooting control information.   The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the shooting control information includes information set for shooting.   The communication system according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the photographing level determining means determines the photographing level according to the number of times of photographing between manual photographing and auto photographing.   9. The switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch control unit causes the changeover switch to select any one of the plurality of storage devices in accordance with the shooting preference of the identification information and the shooting level. The communication system described. The identification information includes main body information,
10. The switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch control unit causes the switch to select any one of the plurality of storage devices according to the shooting preference of the identification information, the shooting level, and the main body information. The communication system according to claim 1.   The communication system according to claim 10, wherein the main body information includes a manufacturer name, a model name, and a model grade of the imaging apparatus.   The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the file server is a community server.

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