JP2001197410A - Image capture system and device adopting the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image capture system that employs an inexpensive interface, such as an interface in compliance with the USB standards to transfer compressed image data to a personal computer. SOLUTION: A recording means 1 of a digital recording medium 100 stores moving image compressed data, a recording and reproducing device reproduces the data and a monitor (not shown) displays the reproduced data via a buffer 3. When a user makes a transfer operation at a required scene, a control section 4 activates a moving image data transmission means 5, which extracts moving image compressed data for an image consisting of one or a plurality of frames and applies time base expansion to the data, and transfers the resulting data to a USB I/F 9 of the personal computer(PC) 200 via a USB I/F 6 and a USB cable 14. A control section 7 of the PC 200 applies time base expansion to the moving image compressed data and the PC 200 expands the image by using a still image generating program 13, and a recording and reproducing section 11 records still image data. Thus, a data file of the still image is generated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image capturing system for capturing desired still image information from moving image information reproduced from a digital recording medium or a recording medium of a video camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers (hereinafter, referred to as personal computers).
(PC) has become widespread, and as one of its usage forms, so-called video capture, which captures moving image data from the outside, has been made possible at an individual level. In many cases, a still image data is extracted from the scene (frame), a data file is created, and the data file is printed out.

A digital video camera (hereinafter, referred to as DVC) capable of recording and reproducing moving image information as a digital image signal has also been widely used for home use. P
The digital video signal is supplied from the DVC to the PC as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-294238, for example. It has become possible to supply the data, process it on the PC side, extract desired still image data, and create a data file.

[0004]

By the way, the transfer rate of digital image data transferred from DVC to PC is as follows.
The moving picture compression method used in the currently widely used DVC is about 25 Mbps, and is used for transmitting the compressed digital moving picture data (hereinafter referred to as moving picture compression data) from the digital camera to the PC. To
In the above-mentioned conventional technology, a high-speed interface such as the IEEE1394 standard is used as an interface for connection between a digital camera and a PC. Also, even if the MPEG2 standard is used for the moving image compression method, DVC and PVC
For connection with C, it is necessary to use a high-speed interface such as the IEEE1394 standard.

[0005] Although the interface of the IEEE1394 standard has spread, it is very expensive and
Transfer rate of IEEE1394 standard interface is almost 40
It is 0Mbps, but P
As described above, the transfer rate of the compressed moving image data to be transmitted to C is about 25 Mbps, which means that the expensive IEEE1394 standard interface is not effectively used.

[0006] In a PC, an interface conforming to the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard (hereinafter referred to as a USB I / F) is used.
) Is standard, and the IEEE1394 standard interface is not standard. For this reason, in order to capture image data from the DVC as described above, it is necessary to use an expensive interface of the IEEE1394 standard, so that the DVC and the PC become expensive, and a conventional device equipped with only a USB I / F is required. PC cannot capture image data from DVC as it is.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and
Provide an image capture system that enables the use of a low transfer rate but inexpensive interface such as BI / F, and captures desired video data from digital video data to create a data file. It is in.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an image capturing system according to the present invention extracts one or a plurality of frames of data capable of generating a desired frame from moving image data, and establishes a transmission line. A data transmitting means for transmitting the transmitted data, generating the desired frame as still image data from the captured data, adding necessary file management information to the still image data, and And a data file creating means for creating an image data file.

Further, the digital recording medium according to the present invention comprises a recording means for recording moving image data image-compressed in a predetermined format on a recording medium, and a desired frame from the moving image data reproduced by the recording means. A moving image data transmitting means for extracting one or a plurality of frames of data capable of generating the video data, compressing the data on the time axis, and transmitting the compressed data to the personal computer. It should be connectable.

[0010] Further, the video camera according to the present invention comprises: an image pickup means for outputting a moving image signal; a compression processing means for compressing the moving image signal in a predetermined format to generate moving image data; Recording means for recording and reproducing the data on a recording medium, operating means for designating one or more frames of data capable of generating a desired frame from the moving image data reproduced from the recording medium, Moving image data transmitting means for extracting the data specified by the operation means from the moving image data reproduced from the medium, compressing the extracted data on the time axis, and transmitting the compressed data to the personal computer; A universal serial bus standard interface enables connection to a personal computer.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of an image capturing system according to the present invention, wherein 100 is a digital recording medium, 200 is a PC, 1 is a recording means, 2 is an interface controller, and 3 is a buffer. Memory, 4 a control unit, 5 moving image data transmission means, 6 USB
I / F, 7 is a control unit, 8 is a memory, 9 is a USB I / F, 10 is an interface control unit, 11 is a recording and reproducing unit, 12 is a display unit, 13 is a still image generation program, and 14 is a USB cable. .

In FIG. 1, a digital recording medium 1
Reference numeral 00 denotes a recording unit 1, an interface control unit 2, a buffer memory 3, a control unit 4, a moving image data transmission unit 5, and a US
The recording unit 1 is a recording medium such as a DVD-RAM, a magnetic tape, or a disk. The recording medium 100 is mounted on a recording / reproducing device such as a DVD or a digital VTR, and is controlled by the control unit 4 by operating an operation unit of the recording / reproducing device and controlled by the interface control unit 2 based on the control. Moving image data compressed by a method conforming to the MPEG2 format,
The compressed moving image data is recorded in the recording means 1, and the compressed moving image data read from the recording means 1 is processed by a processing circuit (not shown) of the recording / reproducing apparatus and is used for image display on a monitor or the like. .

The USB I / F 6 is connected to the USB I / F 9 of the PC 200 and the USB
It is configured to be connectable by a cable 14, thereby enabling transmission of image data and the like between the digital recording medium 100 and the PC 200. Although not shown here, when the digital recording medium 100 is mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus, the USB I / F 6 is automatically connected to the connector of the recording / reproducing apparatus, and the USB cable 14 can be connected to this connector. ing. USB cable 14
In this way, the USB I / F 6 and the USB I / F
9 and connect this USB cable 14 to USB I
By detaching from the / F6 and the USB I / F9, the recording / reproducing apparatus and the PC 200 can be used independently.

In the digital recording medium 100,
The interface control unit 2 controls the recording unit 1 and the external interface, and the buffer memory 3 temporarily stores compressed moving image data recorded in the recording unit 1 when transferring the moving image compressed data. is there. The control unit 4 controls the entire digital recording medium 100, and the moving image data transmitting unit 5 generates (decodes) a desired frame image from the compressed moving image data reproduced from the recording unit 1. One or a plurality of possible frames of data are cut out and converted into a data stream conforming to the USB protocol.

On the other hand, the PC 200 includes a control unit 7, a memory 8,
It comprises the above-mentioned USB I / F 9, interface control unit 10, recording / reproducing unit 11 and display unit 12, and creates a data file of a still image from the compressed moving image data taken from the digital recording medium 100,
In addition, the still image data is read from the data file and the still image is displayed.

Here, the control section 7 executes processing control for realizing various operations of the PC 100, and the memory 8 stores data processed by the control section 7 and information on the result of the arithmetic processing. Things. The interface control unit 10 performs protocol control for the USB I / F 9 and the like, and the recording / reproducing unit 11 stores information such as various data files using a recording medium such as a hard disk. It is. Display 12
Is for displaying image information and the like reproduced from the recording and reproducing unit 11 in response to an operation command from the control unit 7. Further, the control unit 7 performs decompression processing on the moving image compressed data fetched from the USB I / F 9 and adds necessary file management information to the obtained frame-based image data,
A still image generation program 13 for creating a still image data file is installed.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.

In the recording means 1 of the digital recording medium 100, the moving image data that has been image-compressed in the format conforming to the MPEG2 standard, that is, the moving image compressed data, is recorded as described above. When creating a data file of a still image from the compressed moving image data in the PC 200, a recording and playback device (not shown)
The digital recording medium 100 is connected to the recording / reproducing apparatus by connecting the C200 to the C200 by the USB cable 14 as described above, setting them in an operating state.

When a reproducing operation is performed in the recording / reproducing apparatus, the control unit 4 operates the interface control unit 2 based on the operation, and the interface control unit 2 operates.
The compressed moving image data recorded from the recording means 1 is read out based on the above operation. This compressed video data is
Processing such as image decompression is performed by a processing unit of a recording / reproducing device (not shown) via the interface control unit 2 and the buffer memory 3 and is supplied to the monitor unit. Thus, the moving image is monitored by the monitor unit.

A desired scene appears in a moving image displayed on the monitor unit. When the user performs a transfer operation on the recording / reproducing apparatus, assuming that the PC 200 wants to file the data as a still image, the control unit 4 responds accordingly. The moving image data transmitting unit 5 is operated, and the moving image data transmitting unit 5 can generate a desired frame image when the user performs a transfer operation from the buffer memory 3 via the interface control unit 2. Capture compressed data,
This is extended to the time axis and converted to a data stream conforming to the USB protocol. The data stream is set to a data rate that can be transferred from the USB I / F 6 through the USB cable 14 and the USB I / F 9 of the PC 200 due to the above-described time axis expansion.
Is transferred efficiently.

If the data of one or more frames capable of generating a desired frame image is moving image data that has been image-compressed in a format conforming to the MPEG2 format as described above, this transfer operation is performed. The frame image desired by the user at the time of
If the picture is (intra-frame coded) picture, the data of this frame only may be used. If the picture is a P (inter-frame predictive coded) picture or a B (bidirectional predictive coded) picture, the picture is decoded. This is data of a plurality of frame images including an I picture and a P picture necessary for performing the operation.

On the other hand, in the PC 200, under the control of the interface control unit 10, the USB I / F 9 fetches time-axis-extended moving image compression data capable of generating one or a plurality of frame images, and stores it in the memory 8. Once held. The control unit 7 reads the compressed moving image data from the memory 8 at high speed to return to the original data on the time axis, and expands the image using the data of one or a plurality of frames by processing based on the still image generation program 13. (Decoding) processing to obtain image data of a frame image desired by the user on the digital recording medium 100 side. Then, the image data is converted into still image data, to which the necessary file management information is added, and transmitted to the recording / reproducing unit 11. Recording / playback unit 11
In, still image data to which the file management information is added is recorded on a recording medium, and a data file of a still image is created.

When the user specifies a desired still image recorded in the recording / reproducing unit 11 by means not shown, the recording / reproducing unit 11 controls the recording / reproducing unit 11 based on the file management information under the control of the control unit 7. The still image data of the designated still image is reproduced and sent to the display unit 12. Thus, the still image specified by the user is reproduced and displayed.

In the prior art, as described above, the compressed moving image data read from the recording means 1 is transferred to the PC at its high data rate (about 25 Mbps in the above example).
Since a still image file is created by extracting moving image compressed data capable of generating one or a plurality of frame images of a desired scene on a PC side, an expensive and high-speed interface such as the IEEE1394 standard is used. Although required, in the first embodiment, one or a plurality of frames of data capable of generating a desired frame image are cut out on the sending side (in this embodiment, the digital recording medium 100) of the compressed moving image data (see FIG. 1). Extracting) and transferring this to the PC 200, the extracted moving image compressed data can be expanded on the time axis to lower the transfer rate (USB
According to the standard, data can be transferred at a transfer rate of up to about 12 Mbps), an expensive interface such as the IEEE1394 standard is not required, and a PC equipped with a USB I / F can be used as it is.

In the first embodiment, when a command operation for creating a still image file from the digital recording medium 100 to the PC 200 is performed by an operation of the recording / reproducing apparatus on which the digital recording medium 100 is mounted. However, it may be performed by an operation on the PC 200 side. In this case, on the PC side,
With this operation, the command information is output from the control unit 13 via the interface control unit 10 and the USB I / F 9, and the
Of the digital recording medium 100 via the cable 14
It is transmitted to USB I / F6. Digital recording media 10
In the case of 0, the moving image data transmitting means 5 performs the above operation based on the command information received by the USB I / F 6. This is the same in other embodiments described below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the image capturing system according to the present invention, wherein 300 is a digital video camera (DVC), 15 is a camera signal processor, 16 is an image decompression processor, and 17 is Is an operation unit,
Parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

The second embodiment uses the digital recording medium 100 shown in FIG. 1 for DVC. 2, a portion of the DVC 300 corresponding to FIG. 1 has the same configuration as the digital recording medium 100 in FIG.

A moving image signal from an image pickup device such as a CCD (not shown) is subjected to various kinds of camera signal processing, A / D conversion, encoding, and the like by a camera signal processing unit 15.
The image compression processing unit 16 performs image compression according to the MPEG2 standard, and is recorded as moving image compressed data on a recording medium by the recording unit 1 via the buffer memory 3 under the control of the control unit 4. In this case, the user can monitor a screen captured by the image sensor using a viewfinder (not shown), and a necessary scene is displayed on the monitor screen, and the user performs a recording operation (for example,
When the shutter operation is performed, one or a plurality of frames of data that can generate a frame desired by the user after the recording operation are stored as one unit from the buffer memory 3 under the control of the control unit 4 accompanying the shutter operation. Is recorded in the recording medium 1 and identification information is added thereto and recorded on a recording medium. That is, when a recording operation is performed by the operation unit 17, at that time, one unit of moving image data is recorded by the recording unit 1 with the identification information added thereto.

Alternatively, in the recording means 1, moving image data from the image compression processing section 16 is sequentially recorded, and when a recording operation is performed by the operation section 17, identification information is stored in a frame of the moving image compressed data immediately thereafter. It may be added.

When the moving image compressed data recorded on the recording medium of the recording means 1 is transferred to the PC 200 to create a data file of a still image, the operation unit 17 performs a transfer operation. When the user performs this transfer operation, the control unit 4 controls and operates the interface control unit 2 and the moving image data transmission unit 5, and stores the data in the recording unit 1 in the same manner as in the first embodiment shown in FIG. The recorded moving image compression data is transferred to the PC 200. Here, PC 200
Then, a data file of a still image is created in the same manner as in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

As described above, from the DVC 300 to the PC
In the second embodiment, in which the moving image compressed data is transferred to the memory 200, the same effect as in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 can be obtained.

In the second embodiment, the DVC3
The compressed moving image data recorded in the recording means 1 may be transferred to the PC 200 one unit at a time every time the transfer operation is performed. All the compressed moving image data for each unit recorded in the means 1 may be transferred to the PC 200.

As described above, the moving image compressed data from the image compression processing section 16 is sequentially recorded by the recording means 1,
When the recording operation is performed by the operation unit 17 and the identification information is added to the frame of the moving image compressed data immediately thereafter, during the reproduction of the moving image compressed data from the recording unit 1, the control unit 4 When this identification information is detected from the reproduced moving image compressed data, the moving image data transmitting means 5 is controlled, and a frame to which the identification information is added from the buffer memory 3 or a plurality of frames capable of generating this frame is displayed. The compressed moving image data is fetched and sent to the PC 200 as described above.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the image capturing system according to the present invention, in which reference numeral 18 denotes an image compression / decompression processing unit, 19 denotes a display unit, and FIGS.
The same reference numerals are given to the portions corresponding to and the duplicate description will be omitted.

As shown in FIG.
The VC 300 has a built-in digital recording medium having the same configuration as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
All of the compressed moving image data obtained during imaging by the VC 300 can be recorded on the recording medium of the recording unit 1. The compressed moving image data recorded on this recording medium is transferred to the PC 200, and The processing for creating the still image data file is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

When the user performs an image pickup operation on the operation unit 17, an image pickup operation by an image pickup device (not shown) starts, as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. Are processed by the camera signal processing unit 15 and the image compression / expansion processing unit 18 to generate compressed moving image data.
The compressed moving image data is recorded by the recording unit 1 as long as the imaging operation is performed. Therefore, this DVC30
In the digital recording medium having a built-in 0, all of the input compressed moving image data is recorded by the recording means 1 similarly to the digital recording medium 100 shown in FIG.

When the user performs a reproducing operation on the operation unit 17, the compressed moving image data is reproduced by the recording means 1 under the control of the control unit 4, and is temporarily stored in the buffer 3 before being compressed / decompressed. The image data is supplied to the processing unit 18 to decompress the image, and further processed by the camera signal processing unit 15 such as decoding and D / A conversion, and then supplied to the display unit 19. The display unit 19 is, for example, a display device such as an electronic view finder. The display unit 19 displays a moving image based on the compressed moving image data reproduced by the recording unit 1.

An image of a desired scene is displayed on the display unit 19, and when the user views the image and performs a transfer operation with the operation unit 17, the interface control unit 2 and the moving image data are controlled under the control of the control unit 4. The transmitting means 5 operates in the same manner as in the case of the digital recording medium 100 shown in FIG. 1, and one or a plurality of frames of moving image compressed data capable of generating a frame desired by the user are expanded in time axis and transferred to the PC 200 . The operation of PC 200 is the same as that of PC 200 in FIG.
Is the same as

As described above, also in the third embodiment, the DVC 300 and the PC 200 can use the USB I / F to transfer the moving image compressed data between them, and the first embodiment shown in FIG. The same effects as in the embodiment can be obtained.

In each of the above embodiments, the image compression of the moving image information is performed in accordance with the format conforming to the MPEG2 standard. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the image compression may be performed in another format. It may be. Also, the interface is not limited to the USB standard interface, and any interface can be used as long as it is inexpensive and can transmit compressed moving image data.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Moving image compressed data can be transferred to a PC using an inexpensive interface such as a USB standard interface, and a still image data file can be created on a PC while ensuring sufficient image quality with an inexpensive configuration. Become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of an image capturing system and an apparatus using the same according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of an image capturing system and an apparatus using the same according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of an image capturing system and an apparatus using the same according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording means 2 Interface control part 3 Buffer memory 4 Control part 5 Moving image data transmission means 6 USB standard interface 7 Control part 8 Memory 9 USB standard interface 10 Interface control part 11 Recording / reproducing device 12 Display part 13 Still image generation program 14 USB cable 15 Camera signal processing unit 16 Image compression processing unit 17 Operation unit 18 Image compression / decompression processing unit 19 Display unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Naoki Yamamoto 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Digital Media Development Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Yumi Bando 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Address Co., Ltd. Digital Media Development Division, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A data transmission means for extracting one or a plurality of frames capable of generating a desired frame from moving image data and transmitting the extracted data via a transmission line; Data file generating means for generating a desired frame from the data as still image data, and adding required file management information to the still image data to create a data file of the still image. Image capture system. 2. A moving image data generating means for compressing moving image information in a predetermined format to generate moving image data, and one or more frames capable of generating a desired frame from the generated moving image data. Data extracting means for extracting data; data transmitting means for compressing the extracted data on the time axis and transmitting the data via a transmission line; capturing the transmitted data and compressing the time axis to obtain the desired frame A data file creating means for creating a still image data file by adding necessary file management information to the still image data by expanding the image into still image data. 3. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitted data is determined by a control signal from a unit that specifies a portion required as a still image from the moving image data. Image capture system. 4. The image capturing system according to claim 1, further comprising a recording medium on which the moving image data is recorded. 5. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein said data sending means and said data file creating means are connected by a universal serial bus standard interface. Capture system. 6. A digital recording medium connectable to a personal computer through an interface of a universal serial bus standard, wherein said recording means records moving image data compressed in a predetermined format on a recording medium. Moving image data transmitting means for extracting one or more frames of data capable of generating a desired frame from the reproduced moving image data, compressing the data on a time axis, and transmitting the compressed data to the personal computer; A digital recording medium characterized by the following. 7. A video camera connectable to a personal computer through an interface of a universal serial bus standard, comprising: an imaging unit for outputting a moving image signal; and moving image data obtained by compressing the moving image signal in a predetermined format. Compression processing means for generating a moving image data, operation means for specifying one or more frames of data capable of generating a desired frame of the moving image data, and recording the data specified by the operation means on a recording medium And
A video camera comprising: recording means for reproducing; and moving image data transmitting means for compressing the data reproduced from the recording medium on a time axis and transmitting the compressed data to the personal computer. 8. A video camera connectable to a personal computer through an interface of a universal serial bus standard, an image pickup means for outputting a moving image signal, and moving image data obtained by compressing the moving image signal in a predetermined format. Compression processing means for generating the moving image data; recording means for recording and reproducing the moving image data on a recording medium; and one or a plurality of frames capable of generating a desired frame of the moving image data reproduced from the recording medium Operating means for designating frame data; extracting the data specified by the operating means from the moving image data reproduced from the recording medium; compressing the extracted data on a time axis; and sending the compressed data to the personal computer A video camera comprising moving image data transmission means. 9. The video camera according to claim 8, further comprising: display means for displaying a moving image of the moving image data reproduced from the recording medium, wherein the moving image displayed on the display means A video camera, wherein one or more frames of data capable of generating the desired frame from moving image data can be selected.