US20080062272A1 - Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel - Google Patents
Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel Download PDFInfo
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- US20080062272A1 US20080062272A1 US11/979,211 US97921107A US2008062272A1 US 20080062272 A1 US20080062272 A1 US 20080062272A1 US 97921107 A US97921107 A US 97921107A US 2008062272 A1 US2008062272 A1 US 2008062272A1
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N5/00—Details of television systems
- H04N5/76—Television signal recording
- H04N5/765—Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
- H04N5/77—Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus between a recording apparatus and a television camera
- H04N5/772—Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus between a recording apparatus and a television camera the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G06T1/00—General purpose image data processing
- G06T1/20—Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/00912—Arrangements for controlling a still picture apparatus or components thereof not otherwise provided for
- H04N1/00931—Synchronising different operations or sub-apparatus, e.g. controlling on-times taking into account different warm-up times
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
- H04N1/32358—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device using picture signal storage, e.g. at transmitter
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
- H04N1/32561—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device using a programmed control device, e.g. a microprocessor
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
- H04N1/32561—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device using a programmed control device, e.g. a microprocessor
- H04N1/32571—Details of system components
- H04N1/32582—Output interface
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
- H04N1/32561—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device using a programmed control device, e.g. a microprocessor
- H04N1/32598—Bus based systems
- H04N1/32603—Multi-bus systems
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
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- H04N2101/00—Still video cameras
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
- H04N2201/0077—Types of the still picture apparatus
- H04N2201/0084—Digital still camera
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- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
- H04N2201/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
- H04N2201/3285—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device using picture signal storage, e.g. at transmitter
- H04N2201/3288—Storage of two or more complete document pages or image frames
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- H04N5/00—Details of television systems
- H04N5/76—Television signal recording
- H04N5/907—Television signal recording using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N9/00—Details of colour television systems
- H04N9/79—Processing of colour television signals in connection with recording
- H04N9/80—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback
- H04N9/804—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback involving pulse code modulation of the colour picture signal components
- H04N9/8042—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback involving pulse code modulation of the colour picture signal components involving data reduction
- H04N9/8047—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback involving pulse code modulation of the colour picture signal components involving data reduction using transform coding
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- H—ELECTRICITY
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- H04N9/79—Processing of colour television signals in connection with recording
- H04N9/80—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback
- H04N9/82—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback the individual colour picture signal components being recorded simultaneously only
- H04N9/8205—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback the individual colour picture signal components being recorded simultaneously only involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal
- H04N9/8227—Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback the individual colour picture signal components being recorded simultaneously only involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal the additional signal being at least another television signal
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a technology that my be adopted to reduce the required length of processing time in an electronic camera
- FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of an electronic camera 60 in the prior art.
- a taking lens 61 is mounted at the electronic camera 60 .
- An image-capturing element 62 is provided in the image space of the taking lens 61 .
- An image output of the image-capturing element 62 is connected to a bus 65 via an A/D conversion circuit 63 and an image processing unit 64 .
- thumbnail generating unit 68 that generates thumbnail images
- 5 image plane (or screen) size conversion unit 69 that generates images for monitor display
- image data obtained through image-capturing performed at the image-capturing element 62 undergo linear quantization via the A/D conversion circuit 63 and then are provided to the image processing unit 64 .
- the image processing unit 64 performs image processing such as defective pixel correction, black level clamping, white balance adjustment, gamma correction, color interpolation processing (two-dimensional image processing under normal circumstances), color space conversion, space filter processing (two-dimensional image processing such as edge emphasis under normal circumstances) and the like on the image data, and the image data having undergone the image processing are temporarily recorded in the memory 66 via the bus 65 .
- the image plane size conversion unit 69 reads out the image data having undergone image processing by accessing the memory 66 via the bus 65 .
- the image plane size conversion unit 69 reduces the image plane (or screen) size of the image data to the correct size for monitor display and records them in the memory 66 again via the bus 65 .
- the image data having undergone image plane size conversion are again read out from the memory 66 by the monitor display circuit 72 which then displays the image data on the monitor screen.
- the thumbnail generating unit 68 accesses the memory 66 via the bus 65 to read out the image data having undergone the image processing. After generating a thumbnail image by reducing the image plane size of the image data, the thumbnail generating unit 68 temporarily records the resulting thumbnail in the memory 66 via the bus 65 .
- the JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 reads out the image data having undergone image processing by accessing the memory 66 via the bus 65 .
- the JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 performs a trial compression on the image data and notifies the MPU 75 of the compressed code volume. Based upon a plurality of compressed code volumes provided in this manner, the MPU 75 calculates the correct scale factor (an adjustable parameter that determines the compressed code volume) and issues an instruction to the JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 .
- the JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 reads out the image data having undergone image processing again from the memory 66 via the bus 65 and executes a main compression using the specified scale factor. The compressed data resulting from the main compression are then temporarily recorded in the memory 66 via the bus 65 .
- the JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 reads out the thumbnail image from the memory 66 via the bus 65 and compresses the thumbnail image.
- the JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 temporarily records the compressed thumbnail image in the memory 66 .
- the MPU 75 reads out the compressed data from the memory 66 via the bus 65 , and generates an image file by combining the compressed data with the compressed thumbnail image.
- the MPU 75 records this image file in the removable memory 74 via the bus 65 .
- image data obtained by capturing images of a subject are sequentially recorded in the removable memory 74 .
- An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera in which the length of processing time can be reduced.
- the first electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a first bus to which the image data generated by the image-capturing device are output; an image memory that is connected to the first bus and temporarily stores the image data on the first bus; a plurality of image data conversion devices connected to the first bus that individually convert the image data on the first bus; a second bus through which conversion outputs from the plurality of image data conversion devices are provided to individual output destinations; and an adjustment device that performs timing adjustment or multiplexing of a plurality of conversion outputs to ensure that the plurality of conversion outputs do not collide on the second bus.
- the first bus and the second bus are separated from each other with a high degree of reliability by the plurality of image data conversion devices provided between them.
- the plurality of image data conversion devices take in pre-conversion image data from the first bus (similar to a water supply pipe as a metaphor) and release converted image data to the second bus (similar to a water drainage system as a metaphor).
- the pre-conversion image data and the converted image data do not collide on a single bus, to enable smooth execution of image data conversion processing. Consequently, the length of time required for the processing from image-capturing through recording can be reduced with a high degree of reliability.
- the second electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in the first electronic camera the plurality of image data conversion devices are an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data, a compression conversion device that compresses the image data and a size conversion device that converts the image plane size of the image data.
- the contents of the individual image data conversions performed at the image processing device, the compression conversion device and the size conversion device above are different from one another and, thus, the individual image data conversions can be executed independently of one another.
- the image data conversions can be executed in parallel by these devices to achieve a further reduction in the length of time required for the processing from image-capturing through recording.
- the third electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in the first or the second electric camera at least one of the plurality of image data conversion devices has an output destination setting device s that sets the first bus and/or the second bus as an output destination for a conversion output.
- an output destination setting device is provided at the image processing device, it becomes possible to first return image data having undergone two-dimensional image processing to the first bus and then provide them to the compression conversion device or the size conversion device.
- the two-dimensional image processing and the compression processing or the like can be executed continuously.
- the compression conversion device is expected to execute a plurality of compression conversions including trial compressions.
- the image data returned to the first bus may be temporarily stored in an image memory. Since image data can be provided from the image memory to the image compression device in the second compression conversion processing and in subsequent compression conversion processing, an advantage is achieved in that the need for repeatedly executing the image processing by the image processing device is eliminated.
- image data having undergone size conversion can be first returned to the first bus and then provided to the compression conversion device.
- operations to perform compression conversion on image data (e.g., a thumbnail image) having undergone size conversion and the like are enabled.
- an output destination setting device is provided at the size conversion device, image data having undergone image plane size conversion for monitor display can be output to a monitor display device or the like via the first bus.
- the load on the second bus is greatly reduced.
- the heavy processing e.g., monitor display of dynamic images
- the heavy processing e.g., recording of image files obtained through image-capturing
- image data having undergone image compression can be first returned to the first bus and then provided to a device that prepares image files or the like. In this case, operations to create image files by adding pertinent information to the compressed image data and the like are enabled.
- the fourth electronic camera according to the present invention is preferably achieved by that in the first or the second electronic camera a transmission device that directly transmits a conversion output without engaging the first bus or the second bus is provided among, at least, a pair of the plurality of image data conversion devices.
- the structure of the first electronic camera as the basic structural foundation and adding a transmission device among the plurality of image data conversion devices, selection of various signal routes is enabled so that diverse types of signal processing can be achieved.
- the loads on the first bus and the second bus can be reduced to realize even smoother processing.
- the fifth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image-capturing preparation device that executes preparation for image-capturing to be performed by the image-capturing device, the preparation being at least one of focus control, photometering and white balance detection; and a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in a removable memory. And processing time during an image-capturing preparation stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the preparation for image-capturing executed by the image-capturing preparation device and an operation to check the removable memory performed by the recording device.
- the sixth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image-capturing preparation device that executes preparation for image-capturing to be performed by the image-capturing device, the preparation being at least one of focus control, photometering and white balance detection; and a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in a removable memory.
- processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel at least two of an operation to finalize the preparation for image-capturing by the image-capturing preparation device, an operation to activate the image-capturing device and an operation to activate the recording device, the operation to finalize the preparation being at least one of AF lock, an operation to hold exposure calculation results and an operation to hold white balance calculation results.
- the seventh electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; and a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in combination with photographic is information, which is at least one type of information related to photographing such as a photographing date, in a removable memory. And, during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera, processing time elapsing from image-capturing through recording is reduced by implementing in parallel an image-capturing operation by the image-capturing device and an editing operation of the photographic information performed by the recording device.
- the eighth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in a removable memory. And, during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera, processing time elapsing from image-capturing through recording is reduced by implementing in parallel an image-capturing operation by the image-capturing device and a preparing operation for data recording in the removable memory performed by the recording device.
- the ninth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; and an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data generated by the image-capturing device. And, processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel a scanning read of the image data from the image-capturing device and the two-dimensional image processing performed by the image processing device.
- the image data read out from the image-capturing device through scanning are sequentially recorded in the image memory.
- some of the image data that are held on the first bus over a specific length of time before they are written into the image memory may be taken in by the image processing device.
- the number of times image data need to be read out from the image memory by the image processing device is reduced, so that the length of time required for the processing performed during the image-capturing stage can be further reduced.
- the tenth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data generated by the image-capturing device; and a compression conversion device that performs image compression on the image data having undergone two-dimensional image processing at the image processing device. And, processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the two-dimensional image processing performed by the image processing device and the image compression by the compression conversion device.
- the eleventh electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data generated by the image-capturing device; and a size conversion device that converts an image plane size of image data having undergone two-dimensional image processing at the image processing device. And, processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the two-dimensional image processing performed by the image processing device and an image plane size conversion by the size conversion device.
- the twelfth electronic camera according to the present invention is preferably achieved by that in the ninth electronic camera a thumbnail compression device that performs image compression processing on the image data having undergone image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device is further provided, and processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device and the image compression processing performed by the thumbnail compression device.
- the thirteenth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a compression conversion device that performs image compression on the image data generated by the image-capturing device; and a recording device that records compressed data resulting from compression performed by the compression conversion device in a removable memory. And, during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera, processing time elapsing from image-capturing through recording is reduced by implementing in parallel the image compression performed by the compression conversion device and recording of the compressed data by the recording device.
- the fourteenth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a recording device that records the image data resulting from image-capturing by the image-capturing device in a removable memory; a reproduction device that reads out the image data from the removable memory; and an information management device that saves and retrieves management information necessary in an operation to reproduce the image data from the removable memory in response to a power off and on. And, processing time during a reproduction preparation stage is reduced by implementing in parallel an operation to activate the removable memory performed by the reproduction device and retrieving of the management information by the information management device.
- the fifteenth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a compression conversion device that performs image compression on the image data resulting from image-capturing by the image-capturing device; a recording device that records compressed data resulting from the image compression by the compression conversion device in a removable memory; a reproduction device that reads out the compressed data from the removable memory; and a decompression conversion device that performs image decompression on the compressed data read out from the removable memory. And, processing time during an image reproduction stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel a read of the compressed data from the removable memory performed by the reproduction device and decompression conversion of compressed data performed by the decompression conversion device.
- the sixteenth electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in the fifteenth camera a size conversion device that converts an image plane size of the image data having undergone the decompression conversion performed by the decompression conversion device to an image plane size for monitor display is further provided, and processing time during an image reproduction stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the decompression conversion of the compressed data performed by the decompression conversion device and image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device.
- the seventeenth electronic camera comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a recording device that records the image data resulting from image-capturing by the image-capturing device in a removable memory; a reproduction device that reads out the image data from the removable memory; and a size conversion device that converts an image plane size of the image data read out by the reproduction device to an image plane size for monitor display. And, processing time during an image reproduction stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel a read of the image data from the removable memory performed by the reproduction device and the image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device.
- the eighteenth electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in either one of the first through the third electronic cameras, at least one of the plurality of image data conversion devices has an input source setting device that sets the first bus and/or the second bus as an input source of image data.
- uncompressed image data read out from the removable memory or the like onto the second bus in the reproduction mode can be directly provided to the compression conversion device.
- processing such as re-compressing reproduction data can be executed quickly by bypassing any unnecessary routing.
- uncompressed image data read out from the removable memory or the like onto the second bus in the reproduction mode can be directly provided to the image processing device.
- processing such as two-dimensional image processing performed again on the reproduction data can be executed quickly by bypassing any unnecessary routing.
- the image data when image data before undergoing two-dimensional image processing are recorded in the removable memory, for instance, the image data can be directly provided to the image processing device to realize quick reproduction/display at the camera.
- both an input source setting device and an output destination setting device are provided at an image data conversion device, it becomes possible to temporarily reverse the flow of image data, to the flow directed from the second bus to the first bus.
- the loads on the two buses can be adjusted in a flexible manner by, for instance, switching the roles of the first bus and the second bus in correspondence to the processing statuses.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the electronic camera 10 ;
- FIG. 2 illustrates the operating timing (compression mode) for an image-capturing operation
- FIGS. 3 A ⁇ 3 E each illustrate an image processing unit block
- FIG. 4 illustrates the operating timing (non-compression mode) for an image-capturing operation
- FIG. 5 illustrates the operating timing for an reproduction operation
- FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the electronic camera 60 in the prior art.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of an electronic camera 10 in the embodiment.
- a taking lens 11 is mounted at the electronic camera 10 .
- An image-capturing element 12 is provided in the image space of the taking lens 11 .
- An image output of the image-capturing element 12 is input to a real-time processing unit 14 via an A/D conversion circuit 13 .
- An output port of the real-time processing unit 14 is connected to a first bus 15 .
- a first input/output port of a two-dimensional processing unit 14 A, an input/output port of an image memory 16 , an input port of a JPEG compression unit 17 A, an output port of a JPEG decompression unit 17 B, an input port of a thumbnail generating unit 18 and an input port of an image plane size conversion unit 19 are connected to the first bus 15 .
- the electronic camera 10 is provided with a second bus 21 which is independent of the first bus 15 .
- a second output port of the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A, an output port of the JPEG compression unit 17 A, an input port of the JPEG decompression unit 17 B, an output port of the thumbnail generating unit 18 , an output port of the image plane size conversion unit 19 and the first bus 15 are connected to the second bus 21 via a buffer circuit 20 .
- the buffer circuit 20 in this structure is constituted of a plurality of FIFOs (first-in/first-out memories) and their control circuits, and performs timing adjustment or multiplexing for individual sets of data to ensure that data collisions do not occur on the second bus 21 .
- FIFOs first-in/first-out memories
- the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A is internally provided with an output destination setting circuit 14 B that selects the first bus 15 and/or the second bus 21 as an output destination of conversion output.
- a monitor display circuit 23 , a removable memory 24 , an MPU 25 , a system memory 26 and a non-volatile memory 26 A are also connected to the second bus 21 .
- a photometering mechanism 28 for AE (automatic exposure) and AWB (automatic white balance adjustment) and an autofocus control mechanism 29 for AF (autofocus control) are connected to the MPU 25 .
- a data transfer path 30 through which the MPU 25 inputs/outputs data from/to the image memory 16 is provided.
- FIG. 2 illustrates the operating timing achieved when compressing and recording image data. The following is an explanation of the operating timing for an image-capturing operation, given in reference to FIG. 2 .
- the MPU 25 issues a command for photographing preparation.
- the photometering mechanism 28 starts a “photometering operation/white balance detection.”
- the autofocus control mechanism 29 starts to implement focus control.
- the MPU 25 turns on the power to the recording system (the removable memory 24 ), and starts to “check the removable memory 24 .” It is to be noted that at this point, operations such as decision-making as to whether or not the removable memory 24 is present, decision-making as to whether or not the removable memory 24 is usable, collection of attribute information with respect to the removable memory 24 , decision-making as to whether or not the removable memory 24 is formatted and initial setting for the driver are executed.
- the MPU 25 first stores the check data in the non-volatile memory 26 A and then turns off the power to the recording system.
- the MPU 25 issues a command to finalize the photographing preparation.
- the photometering mechanism 28 “holds the results of exposure calculation performed based upon the photometering value/the results of white balance calculation.”
- the autofocus control mechanism 29 executes an AF lock.
- the MPU 25 turns on the power to the image-capturing element 12 , the removable memory 24 and related circuits (operation to activate the means for image-capturing, operation to activate the means for recording).
- the electronic camera in the embodiment is provided with a dedicated photometering mechanism 28 and a dedicated autofocus control mechanism 29
- the image-capturing element and the related circuits are turned on when the shutter release button is pressed halfway down.
- the operation to activate the means for image-capturing corresponds to an operation performed to switch from the AE/AWB/AF operations to a still photographing state.
- the read mode for the image-capturing element 12 is reset, the mechanical shutter is closed (if the camera is provided with a mechanical shutter) and unnecessary electrical charges are cleared from the image-capturing element 12 and so forth.
- the image-capturing element 12 starts an exposure operation.
- the MPU 25 sequentially executes the following operations.
- the check data obtained by checking the removable memory 24 are retrieved from the non-volatile memory 26 A.
- Information such as the photographing date is obtained from the internal timer and is edited as photographic information (operation to edit photographic information).
- the photographic information resulting from the editing operation is temporarily recorded in the system memory 26 .
- a FAT (file allocation table) is read out from the removable memory 24 and placed on the system memory 26
- image data (CCD raw data) are sequentially read out from the image-capturing element 12 .
- the image data After undergoing A/D conversion, the image data are sequentially output to the real-time processing unit 14 .
- the real-time processing unit 14 performs real-time processing such as defective pixel correction, black level clamping, white balance adjustment and gamma correction on the image data and sequentially records the processed image data in the image memory 16 via the first bus 15 .
- the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A starts two-dimensional image processing (such as color interpolation processing) in parallel at the point in time at which image data corresponding to M lines have been accumulated in the image memory 16 (see FIG. 3A ).
- the embodiment in which the problems described above are eliminated by making the plurality of processing units share the image memory (it is particularly desirable to employ a highspeed memory), achieves a structure that enables parallel execution of a plurality of types of processing in a flexible manner.
- the output destination setting circuit 14 B sets the first bus 15 as the destination of the output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A in the compression mode.
- image data having been processed at the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A are sequentially output to the first bus 15 and sequentially recorded in the image memory 16 .
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A starts a trial compression on the image data having undergone the two-dimensional image processing.
- JPEG compression processing an image compression calculation is executed on the individual color components (e.g., a Y Cb Cr color image) in units of 8 ⁇ 8 pixels block.
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A starts the trial compression in parallel at a point in time at which an 8 ⁇ 8 pixels block is output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A. Since the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A prepares a single 8 ⁇ 8 pixels block for each color component based upon image data corresponding to (N+7) ⁇ (M+7) pixels, parallel execution of the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A and the trial compression proceeds from this time point (see FIG. 3B ).
- the image compression calculation is executed by handling 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks, each block corresponding to one of the three colors, i.e., Y, Cb and Cr, as one unit.
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A starts the execution of trial compression in parallel when the three 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks have been output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A.
- parallel execution of the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A and the trial compression proceeds from the time point at which the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A has created the three 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks (one each of Y, Cb and Cr) based upon the image data corresponding to (N+7) ⁇ (M+7) pixels (see FIG. 3C ).
- the image compression calculation is executed by handling two 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component and one each of 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components as one unit.
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A starts the execution of trial compression in parallel when the four 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks (two 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component, and one each of 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components) have been output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A.
- parallel execution of the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A and the trial compression proceeds from the time point at which the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A has created the four 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks (two 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component, and one each of 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr, components) based upon the image data corresponding to (N+15) ⁇ (M+7) pixels (see FIG. 3D ).
- the image compression calculation is executed by handling four 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component and one each of 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components as one unit.
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A starts the execution of trial compression in parallel when the six 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks (four 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component, and one each of 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components) have been output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A.
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A does not output compressed data and instead notifies the MPU 25 of only the code volume of the compressed data. For this reason, during this trial compression period, the efficiency of utilization of the second bus 21 by the JPEG compression unit 17 A becomes extremely low. Thus, in order to utilize the second bus 21 efficiently during the trial compression period, the following processing (processing 6 ⁇ 7 below) is executed in parallel.
- the image plane size conversion unit 19 sequentially takes in the image data via the first bus 15 and executes image plane size conversion for display. As a result, the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A and the image plane size conversion processing proceed in parallel.
- the image plane size conversion unit 19 sequentially outputs the display image data prepared in this manner to the buffer circuit 20 .
- the thumbnail generating unit 18 sequentially takes in the image data via the first bus 15 and executes thumbnail generation processing.
- the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A and the thumbnail generation processing proceed in parallel.
- the thumbnail generating unit 18 sequentially outputs the thumbnail image data thus created to the buffer circuit 20 .
- the buffer circuit 20 alternately outputs the display image data and the thumbnail image data onto the second bus 21 to ensure that its internal FIFOs do not overflow.
- the MPU 25 sequentially records the display image data and the thumbnail image data on the second bus 21 in respective areas on the system memory 26 .
- the monitor display circuit 23 sequentially reads out the display image data from the system memory 26 and executes monitor display. It is to be noted that if a video memory is provided within the monitor display circuit 23 , the display image data may be directly written in the video memory without engaging the system memory 26 (it is to be noted that the structure achieved by providing the monitor display circuit 23 on the side where the first bus 15 is present is described in the summary of the invention).
- a video memory is provided within the monitor display circuit 23 , by directly providing an output from the image plane size conversion unit 19 to the monitor display circuit 23 , it becomes unnecessary to engage either the first bus 15 or the second bus 21 , so that the loads on the buses are further reduced.
- the MPU 25 sequentially takes in the thumbnail image data from image memory 16 via the second bus 21 and executes compression processing on the thumbnail image data (software processing).
- the thumbnail generation processing (a type of image plane size conversion) by the thumbnail generating unit 18 and the thumbnail compression processing by the MPU 25 proceed in parallel.
- the output of the thumbnail image data is completed after the two-dimensional image processing is completed.
- the thumbnail image data requiring is a relatively small capacity are output onto the second bus slowly.
- the image compression calculation can be performed at the MPU 25 side by allowing a sufficient margin in correspondence to the speed at which the thumbnail image data are output so that it becomes possible to complete the thumbnail compression without letting a great length of time elapse after the completion of the processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A.
- thumbnail image data that have been compressed in this manner are sequentially recorded in the system memory 26 .
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A notifies the MPU 25 of the compressed code volume. Based upon the compressed code volume, the MPU 25 determines a correct scale factor for achieving a target compression rate and notifies the JPEG compression unit 17 A of the determined scale factor.
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A executes JPEG compression (main compression), sequentially outputs the compressed data to the buffer circuit 20 and temporarily records them in the system memory 26 . Since the processing 6 ⁇ 9 described above is almost completed at this time point, the buffer circuit 20 can output the compressed data from the JPEG compression unit 17 A onto the second bus 21 almost in real time.
- the MPU 25 creates the header portion of an image file by combining the thumbnail compressed data and the photographic information on the system memory 26 , and records the header portion thus created in the removable memory 24 . Then, the MPU 25 sequentially reads out the compressed data from the system memory 26 via the second bus 21 and sequentially records the compressed data thus read out in the removable memory 24 as the data portion of the image file. At this time, the system memory 26 functions as a buffer memory for the compressed data. The image compression processing by the JPEG compression unit 17 A and the recording of the compressed data proceed in parallel in this manner.
- the MPU 25 may sequentially record compressed data output onto the second bus 21 in the removable memory 24 without engaging the system memory 26 .
- pipeline type parallel processing of the compression operation and the recording operation is implemented.
- compressed image data are recorded in the removable memory 24 .
- FIG. 4 illustrates the operation timing achieved when recording image data in a non-compressed state. The following is an explanation of the features that characterize the operation performed in the non-compression mode.
- the output destination setting circuit 14 B sets both the first bus 15 and the second bus 21 as destinations of an output resulting from conversion processing in the non-compression mode.
- image data having undergone the two-dimensional image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A are simultaneously output to the first bus 15 and the second bus 21 .
- the image data output by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A may be directly provided to the thumbnail generating unit 18 and the image plane size conversion unit 19 via a transmission path 42 shown in FIG. 1 for the execution of thumbnail generation and image plane size conversion.
- the image data output to the first bus 15 are taken in by the thumbnail generating unit 18 and the image plane size conversion unit 19 , as in the operation in the compression mode explained earlier.
- the image data output to the second bus 21 undergo timing adjustment via the buffer circuit 20 , are sequentially output to the second bus 21 and are temporarily recorded in the system memory 26 .
- the MPU 25 reads out the uncompressed image data from the system memory 26 and sequentially records them in the removable memory 24 as the data portion of the image file.
- the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A and the recording of the uncompressed image data proceed in parallel in this manner. It is to be noted that if the recording speed at the removable memory 24 is low, idle time is created at the second bus 21 . In order to utilize this idle time efficiently, the following processing 1 and 2 is inserted in parallel.
- thumbnail image data output by the thumbnail generating unit 18 first undergo timing adjustment via the buffer circuit 20 , are sequentially output onto the second bus 21 and are temporarily recorded in the system memory 26 .
- the display image data output by the image plane size conversion unit 19 first undergo timing adjustment via the buffer circuit 20 , are sequentially output onto the second bus 21 and are temporarily recorded in the system memory 26 .
- the monitor display circuit 23 reads out the display image data from the system memory 26 and executes monitor display (the display image data may be directly written in the video memory within the monitor display circuit 23 without engaging the system memory 26 ).
- the MPU 25 creates the header portion of the image file by combining the thumbnail image (in the non-compression mode, the thumbnail image, too, is often recorded in an uncompressed state) and the photographic information on the system memory 26 and records the header portion thus created in the removable memory 24 .
- the file header has a fixed length.
- a memory area for the file header may be secured in advance when recording the data portion of the image file earlier.
- the compression may be executed in parallel with the thumbnail generation processing.
- FIG. 5 illustrates the operating timing achieved when reproducing image data in the removable memory 24 .
- the following is an explanation of the image reproduction operation given in reference to FIG. S.
- the MPU 25 turns on power to the removable memory 24 (operation to activate the removable memory 24 ).
- the MPU 25 reads out the check data obtained by checking the removable memory 24 from the non-volatile memory 26 A.
- the check data include information necessary to retrieve management information such as the name of the directory in which the image file to be reproduced first is contained, the name of the image file and information related to the file system which may be DOS FAT or the like. Based upon the check data, the MPU 25 retrieves the management information necessary for the execution of the reproduction operation onto the system memory 26 .
- the FAT and the directory area which is to be reproduced first are read out onto the system memory 26 .
- the management information related to the file system retrieved in 1 above is utilized.
- the MPU 25 sequentially reads out compressed data from the removable memory 24 onto the second bus 21 and sequentially records them in the system memory 26 .
- the JPEG decompression unit 17 B sequentially takes in the compressed data from the system memory 26 via the buffer circuit 20 and sequentially executes JPEG decompression processing.
- the MPU 25 may send the compressed data on the second bus 21 to the buffer circuit 20 without engaging the system memory 26 .
- the JPEG decompression unit 17 B receives the compressed data without engaging the system memory 26 , and pipeline type parallel processing of the “compressed data read processing” and the “JPEG decompression processing” is executed.
- the image data that have been decompressed by the JPEG decompression unit 17 B are sequentially output to the first bus 15 and are temporarily recorded in the image memory 16 .
- the image plane size conversion unit 19 converts the image plane size of the image data by sequentially taking in the image data from image memory 16 to generate display image data.
- the display image data are sequentially output onto the second bus 21 via the buffer circuit 20 and are sequentially recorded in the system memory 26 .
- the monitor display circuit 23 reads out the display image data from the system memory 26 and executes monitor display.
- this operation may be performed by employing the video memory within the monitor display circuit 23 , and in such a case, since the band of the second bus 21 is not used unnecessarily, the efficiency of the processing performed using the second bus 21 is further improved.
- the image data read out from the removable memory 24 are in an uncompressed state, the image data are sequentially passed through the second bus 21 , the buffer circuit 20 and the first bus 15 and are finally taken in by the image plane size conversion unit 19 .
- the image plane size conversion unit 19 converts the image plane size of the image data and creates display image data.
- the display image data are written in the video memory within the monitor display circuit 23 or the system memory 26 via the buffer circuit 20 and are displayed at the monitor.
- the first bus 15 and the second bus 21 are separated from each other with a high degree of reliability. Consequently, data collisions on the buses are effectively prevented, while enabling smooth execution of a plurality of types of image conversion processing.
- parallel execution of processing in various operations is enabled in the embodiment.
- the buffer circuit 20 data collisions are effectively prevented from occurring within the electronic camera 10 .
- the software processing by the MPU 25 and the hardware processing performed by the JPEG compression unit 17 A, the thumbnail generating unit 18 , the image plane size conversion unit 19 and the JPEG decompression unit 17 B are executed in concert with each other in an effective manner.
- the embodiment achieves a great reduction in processing time in the electronic camera 10 .
- a means for transmission may be provided among the means for image data conversion.
- the transmission path 42 for transmitting 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks may be provided between the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A and the JPEG compression unit 17 A.
- the JPEG compression unit 17 A it becomes possible for the JPEG compression unit 17 A to execute compression processing by directly taking in 8 ⁇ 8 pixels blocks via the transmission path 42 .
- the first bus 15 can be utilized efficiently for other processing.
- the transmission path 42 to directly transmit the output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14 A to the thumbnail generating unit 18 and the image plane size conversion unit 19 , availability of the first bus 15 can be assured in an efficient manner.
- a transmission path 41 for directly transmitting a thumbnail image from the thumbnail generating unit 18 to the JPEG compression unit 17 A, as illustrated in FIG. 1 may be provided.
- a transmission path 43 for directly transmitting decompressed image data from the JPEG decompression unit 17 B to the image plane size conversion unit 19 may be provided, as illustrated in FIG. 1 . In this case, it becomes possible to assure availability of the first bus 15 in the reproduction mode in an efficient manner.
- compressed data and thumbnail compressed data can be returned to the first bus side and then recorded in the image memory 16 , which, in turn, makes it possible to increase the number of frames over which photographing is enabled in highspeed continuous shooting.
- a means for input source setting may be provided at a means for image data conversion.
- an input source setting circuit 19 A may be provided at the image plane size conversion unit 19 .
- image data in an uncompressed state read out from the removable memory can be directly provided to the image plane size conversion unit 19 sequentially via the second bus 21 and a transmission path 44 .
- the image data having undergone size conversion at the image plane size conversion unit 19 then undergo timing adjustment at the buffer circuit 20 , are returned to the second bus 21 and are finally provided to the monitor display circuit 23 .
- an output destination setting circuit may be added at the image plane size conversion unit 19 structured as described above.
- the destination of an output from the image plane size conversion unit 19 can be temporarily switched to image memory 16 on the side where the first bus 15 is present to avoid an overflow at the buffer circuit 20 when, for instance, the load on the second bus 21 has increased excessively (e.g., when a reproduction frame feed has been repeatedly performed).
- Input buffers such as line memories may be individually provided between the first bus 15 and the plurality of means for image data conversion ( 14 A, 17 A, 18 and 19 ). Since the image output from the real-time processing unit 14 can be directly taken into the individual input buffers by adopting such a structure, the image memory 16 is accessed less frequently so that the length of processing time is further reduced.
Abstract
An electronic camera includes: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a first bus to which the image data generated by the image capturing device are output; an image memory that is connected to the first bus and temporarily stores the image data on the first bus; a plurality of image data conversion devices connected to the first bus that individually convert the image data on the first bus; a second bus through which conversion outputs from the plurality of image data conversion devices are provided to individual output destinations; and an adjustment device that performs timing adjustment or multiplexing of a plurality of conversion outputs to ensure that the plurality of conversion outputs do not collide on the second bus.
Description
- This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/333,243 filed on Jan. 18, 2006, which is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/505,281 filed on Feb. 16, 2000. This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 11-275232, filed Sep. 28, 1999 and Japanese Patent Application No. 11-334586, filed Nov. 25, 1999. The entire disclosure of the prior applications is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
- 1. Field of the Invention
- The present invention relates to a technology that my be adopted to reduce the required length of processing time in an electronic camera
- 2. Description of the Related Art
-
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of anelectronic camera 60 in the prior art. - In
FIG. 6 , a takinglens 61 is mounted at theelectronic camera 60. An image-capturingelement 62 is provided in the image space of the takinglens 61. An image output of the image-capturingelement 62 is connected to abus 65 via an A/D conversion circuit 63 and animage processing unit 64. - In addition, the following components are connected to the bus 65:
- 1
MPU 75 for system control - 2
memory 66 that temporarily stores image data and also stores system data managed by the MPU 75 - 3 JPEG compression/
decompression unit 67 that performs compression/decompression of image data - 4
thumbnail generating unit 68 that generates thumbnail images - 5 image plane (or screen)
size conversion unit 69 that generates images for monitor display - 6
monitor display circuit 72 - 7 removable memory 74 for recording image data
- The following is an explanation of the operation performed in the
electronic camera 60. - First, image data obtained through image-capturing performed at the image-capturing
element 62 undergo linear quantization via the A/D conversion circuit 63 and then are provided to theimage processing unit 64. Theimage processing unit 64 performs image processing such as defective pixel correction, black level clamping, white balance adjustment, gamma correction, color interpolation processing (two-dimensional image processing under normal circumstances), color space conversion, space filter processing (two-dimensional image processing such as edge emphasis under normal circumstances) and the like on the image data, and the image data having undergone the image processing are temporarily recorded in thememory 66 via thebus 65. - Next, the image plane
size conversion unit 69 reads out the image data having undergone image processing by accessing thememory 66 via thebus 65. The image planesize conversion unit 69 reduces the image plane (or screen) size of the image data to the correct size for monitor display and records them in thememory 66 again via thebus 65. The image data having undergone image plane size conversion are again read out from thememory 66 by themonitor display circuit 72 which then displays the image data on the monitor screen. - The
thumbnail generating unit 68 accesses thememory 66 via thebus 65 to read out the image data having undergone the image processing. After generating a thumbnail image by reducing the image plane size of the image data, thethumbnail generating unit 68 temporarily records the resulting thumbnail in thememory 66 via thebus 65. - In addition, the JPEG compression/
decompression unit 67 reads out the image data having undergone image processing by accessing thememory 66 via thebus 65. The JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 performs a trial compression on the image data and notifies theMPU 75 of the compressed code volume. Based upon a plurality of compressed code volumes provided in this manner, theMPU 75 calculates the correct scale factor (an adjustable parameter that determines the compressed code volume) and issues an instruction to the JPEG compression/decompression unit 67. The JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 reads out the image data having undergone image processing again from thememory 66 via thebus 65 and executes a main compression using the specified scale factor. The compressed data resulting from the main compression are then temporarily recorded in thememory 66 via thebus 65. - Next, the JPEG compression/
decompression unit 67 reads out the thumbnail image from thememory 66 via thebus 65 and compresses the thumbnail image. The JPEG compression/decompression unit 67 temporarily records the compressed thumbnail image in thememory 66. Then, the MPU 75 reads out the compressed data from thememory 66 via thebus 65, and generates an image file by combining the compressed data with the compressed thumbnail image. The MPU 75 records this image file in the removable memory 74 via thebus 65. - Through the series of operations described above, image data obtained by capturing images of a subject are sequentially recorded in the removable memory 74.
- It is to be noted that while the image plane size conversion, the thumbnail generation and the JPEG compression/decompression are executed by dedicated hardware in the explanation given above, these operations may be achieved through software processing by the
MPU 75 if the length of the processing time is not a critical issue. - In this example of the prior art, great volumes of data are repeatedly exchanged via the
bus 65 as described above. For this reason, the timing adjustment implemented to avoid data collisions becomes extremely complicated. Furthermore, if thebus 65 cannot assume a sufficiently wide band, the individual processing operations must be executed sequentially. - Thus, a problem arises in that the processing performed in the
electronic camera 60 consumes a great deal of time. - An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera in which the length of processing time can be reduced.
- In order to attain the above object, the first electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a first bus to which the image data generated by the image-capturing device are output; an image memory that is connected to the first bus and temporarily stores the image data on the first bus; a plurality of image data conversion devices connected to the first bus that individually convert the image data on the first bus; a second bus through which conversion outputs from the plurality of image data conversion devices are provided to individual output destinations; and an adjustment device that performs timing adjustment or multiplexing of a plurality of conversion outputs to ensure that the plurality of conversion outputs do not collide on the second bus.
- In the electronic camera structured described above, the first bus and the second bus are separated from each other with a high degree of reliability by the plurality of image data conversion devices provided between them. As a result, the plurality of image data conversion devices take in pre-conversion image data from the first bus (similar to a water supply pipe as a metaphor) and release converted image data to the second bus (similar to a water drainage system as a metaphor). As a result, the pre-conversion image data and the converted image data do not collide on a single bus, to enable smooth execution of image data conversion processing. Consequently, the length of time required for the processing from image-capturing through recording can be reduced with a high degree of reliability.
- The second electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in the first electronic camera the plurality of image data conversion devices are an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data, a compression conversion device that compresses the image data and a size conversion device that converts the image plane size of the image data.
- The contents of the individual image data conversions performed at the image processing device, the compression conversion device and the size conversion device above are different from one another and, thus, the individual image data conversions can be executed independently of one another. As a result, in the electronic camera structured as described above, the image data conversions can be executed in parallel by these devices to achieve a further reduction in the length of time required for the processing from image-capturing through recording.
- In addition, by providing the image processing device halfway between the first bus and the second bus, it becomes possible to output uncompressed image data that have undergone only two-dimensional image processing directly to the second bus. In such a case, operations to record uncompressed image data at an external device and output the uncompressed image to the outside via the second bus are enabled.
- The third electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in the first or the second electric camera at least one of the plurality of image data conversion devices has an output destination setting device s that sets the first bus and/or the second bus as an output destination for a conversion output.
- For instance, if an output destination setting device is provided at the image processing device, it becomes possible to first return image data having undergone two-dimensional image processing to the first bus and then provide them to the compression conversion device or the size conversion device. In such a case, the two-dimensional image processing and the compression processing or the like can be executed continuously. In particular, the compression conversion device is expected to execute a plurality of compression conversions including trial compressions. To facilitate the execution of a plurality of compression conversions, the image data returned to the first bus may be temporarily stored in an image memory. Since image data can be provided from the image memory to the image compression device in the second compression conversion processing and in subsequent compression conversion processing, an advantage is achieved in that the need for repeatedly executing the image processing by the image processing device is eliminated.
- If, on the other hand, an output destination setting device is provided at the size conversion device, image data having undergone size conversion can be first returned to the first bus and then provided to the compression conversion device. In this case, operations to perform compression conversion on image data (e.g., a thumbnail image) having undergone size conversion and the like are enabled.
- In addition, if an output destination setting device is provided at the size conversion device, image data having undergone image plane size conversion for monitor display can be output to a monitor display device or the like via the first bus. In such a case, since the monitor display image data are not provided to the second bus, the load on the second bus is greatly reduced. As a result, the heavy processing (e.g., monitor display of dynamic images) implemented via the first bus and the heavy processing (e.g., recording of image files obtained through image-capturing) implemented via the second bus can be separately and smoothly executed in parallel.
- If an output destination setting device is provided at the compression conversion device, image data having undergone image compression can be first returned to the first bus and then provided to a device that prepares image files or the like. In this case, operations to create image files by adding pertinent information to the compressed image data and the like are enabled.
- By providing an output destination setting device at an image data conversion device and switching the destination of a conversion output between the first bus and the second bus in this manner, various types of signal processing are enabled. In particular, by selectively returning a specific conversion output to the first bus by employing the output destination setting device, the order in which conversion outputs are provided to the second bus can be changed as necessary or the loads on the first bus and the second bus can be adjusted in a flexible manner in correspondence to the processing statuses.
- The fourth electronic camera according to the present invention is preferably achieved by that in the first or the second electronic camera a transmission device that directly transmits a conversion output without engaging the first bus or the second bus is provided among, at least, a pair of the plurality of image data conversion devices.
- By adopting the structure of the first electronic camera as the basic structural foundation and adding a transmission device among the plurality of image data conversion devices, selection of various signal routes is enabled so that diverse types of signal processing can be achieved. In addition, by providing a transmission device, the loads on the first bus and the second bus can be reduced to realize even smoother processing.
- The fifth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image-capturing preparation device that executes preparation for image-capturing to be performed by the image-capturing device, the preparation being at least one of focus control, photometering and white balance detection; and a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in a removable memory. And processing time during an image-capturing preparation stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the preparation for image-capturing executed by the image-capturing preparation device and an operation to check the removable memory performed by the recording device.
- The sixth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image-capturing preparation device that executes preparation for image-capturing to be performed by the image-capturing device, the preparation being at least one of focus control, photometering and white balance detection; and a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in a removable memory. And processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel at least two of an operation to finalize the preparation for image-capturing by the image-capturing preparation device, an operation to activate the image-capturing device and an operation to activate the recording device, the operation to finalize the preparation being at least one of AF lock, an operation to hold exposure calculation results and an operation to hold white balance calculation results.
- The seventh electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; and a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in combination with photographic is information, which is at least one type of information related to photographing such as a photographing date, in a removable memory. And, during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera, processing time elapsing from image-capturing through recording is reduced by implementing in parallel an image-capturing operation by the image-capturing device and an editing operation of the photographic information performed by the recording device.
- The eighth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a recording device that records the image data generated by the image-capturing device in a removable memory. And, during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera, processing time elapsing from image-capturing through recording is reduced by implementing in parallel an image-capturing operation by the image-capturing device and a preparing operation for data recording in the removable memory performed by the recording device.
- The ninth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; and an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data generated by the image-capturing device. And, processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel a scanning read of the image data from the image-capturing device and the two-dimensional image processing performed by the image processing device.
- It is to be noted that the image data read out from the image-capturing device through scanning are sequentially recorded in the image memory. During this process, some of the image data that are held on the first bus over a specific length of time before they are written into the image memory may be taken in by the image processing device. Through such an operation, the number of times image data need to be read out from the image memory by the image processing device is reduced, so that the length of time required for the processing performed during the image-capturing stage can be further reduced.
- The tenth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data generated by the image-capturing device; and a compression conversion device that performs image compression on the image data having undergone two-dimensional image processing at the image processing device. And, processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the two-dimensional image processing performed by the image processing device and the image compression by the compression conversion device.
- The eleventh electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data generated by the image-capturing device; and a size conversion device that converts an image plane size of image data having undergone two-dimensional image processing at the image processing device. And, processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the two-dimensional image processing performed by the image processing device and an image plane size conversion by the size conversion device.
- The twelfth electronic camera according to the present invention is preferably achieved by that in the ninth electronic camera a thumbnail compression device that performs image compression processing on the image data having undergone image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device is further provided, and processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device and the image compression processing performed by the thumbnail compression device.
- The thirteenth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a compression conversion device that performs image compression on the image data generated by the image-capturing device; and a recording device that records compressed data resulting from compression performed by the compression conversion device in a removable memory. And, during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera, processing time elapsing from image-capturing through recording is reduced by implementing in parallel the image compression performed by the compression conversion device and recording of the compressed data by the recording device.
- The fourteenth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a recording device that records the image data resulting from image-capturing by the image-capturing device in a removable memory; a reproduction device that reads out the image data from the removable memory; and an information management device that saves and retrieves management information necessary in an operation to reproduce the image data from the removable memory in response to a power off and on. And, processing time during a reproduction preparation stage is reduced by implementing in parallel an operation to activate the removable memory performed by the reproduction device and retrieving of the management information by the information management device.
- The fifteenth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a compression conversion device that performs image compression on the image data resulting from image-capturing by the image-capturing device; a recording device that records compressed data resulting from the image compression by the compression conversion device in a removable memory; a reproduction device that reads out the compressed data from the removable memory; and a decompression conversion device that performs image decompression on the compressed data read out from the removable memory. And, processing time during an image reproduction stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel a read of the compressed data from the removable memory performed by the reproduction device and decompression conversion of compressed data performed by the decompression conversion device.
- The sixteenth electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in the fifteenth camera a size conversion device that converts an image plane size of the image data having undergone the decompression conversion performed by the decompression conversion device to an image plane size for monitor display is further provided, and processing time during an image reproduction stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the decompression conversion of the compressed data performed by the decompression conversion device and image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device.
- The seventeenth electronic camera according to the present invention comprises: an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data; a recording device that records the image data resulting from image-capturing by the image-capturing device in a removable memory; a reproduction device that reads out the image data from the removable memory; and a size conversion device that converts an image plane size of the image data read out by the reproduction device to an image plane size for monitor display. And, processing time during an image reproduction stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel a read of the image data from the removable memory performed by the reproduction device and the image plane size conversion performed by the size conversion device.
- The eighteenth electronic camera according to the present invention is achieved by that in either one of the first through the third electronic cameras, at least one of the plurality of image data conversion devices has an input source setting device that sets the first bus and/or the second bus as an input source of image data.
- For instance, if an input source setting device is provided at the size conversion device, uncompressed image data read out from the removable memory or the like onto the second bus in the reproduction mode can be directly provided to the size conversion device. In this case, it becomes possible to quickly generate monitor display image data by bypassing any unnecessary routing. In addition, since the image data in the reproduction system hardly ever flow through the first bus, the load on the first bus is greatly reduced.
- If, on the other hand, an input source setting device is provided at the compression conversion device, uncompressed image data read out from the removable memory or the like onto the second bus in the reproduction mode can be directly provided to the compression conversion device. In this case, processing such as re-compressing reproduction data can be executed quickly by bypassing any unnecessary routing.
- In addition, if an input source setting device is provided at the image processing device, uncompressed image data read out from the removable memory or the like onto the second bus in the reproduction mode can be directly provided to the image processing device. In this case, processing such as two-dimensional image processing performed again on the reproduction data can be executed quickly by bypassing any unnecessary routing.
- Furthermore, when image data before undergoing two-dimensional image processing are recorded in the removable memory, for instance, the image data can be directly provided to the image processing device to realize quick reproduction/display at the camera.
- By adding an input source setting device at an image data conversion device in this manner, selection of various signal processing routes is enabled.
- In particular, if both an input source setting device and an output destination setting device are provided at an image data conversion device, it becomes possible to temporarily reverse the flow of image data, to the flow directed from the second bus to the first bus. In this case, the loads on the two buses can be adjusted in a flexible manner by, for instance, switching the roles of the first bus and the second bus in correspondence to the processing statuses.
-
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of theelectronic camera 10; -
FIG. 2 illustrates the operating timing (compression mode) for an image-capturing operation; - FIGS. 3A˜3E each illustrate an image processing unit block;
-
FIG. 4 illustrates the operating timing (non-compression mode) for an image-capturing operation; -
FIG. 5 illustrates the operating timing for an reproduction operation; and -
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of theelectronic camera 60 in the prior art. - The following is an explanation of an embodiment of the present invention, given in reference to the drawings.
-
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of anelectronic camera 10 in the embodiment. - In
FIG. 1 , a takinglens 11 is mounted at theelectronic camera 10. An image-capturingelement 12 is provided in the image space of the takinglens 11. An image output of the image-capturingelement 12 is input to a real-time processing unit 14 via an A/D conversion circuit 13. An output port of the real-time processing unit 14 is connected to afirst bus 15. - A first input/output port of a two-
dimensional processing unit 14A, an input/output port of animage memory 16, an input port of aJPEG compression unit 17A, an output port of aJPEG decompression unit 17B, an input port of athumbnail generating unit 18 and an input port of an image planesize conversion unit 19 are connected to thefirst bus 15. - In addition, the
electronic camera 10 is provided with asecond bus 21 which is independent of thefirst bus 15. A second output port of the two-dimensional processing unit 14A, an output port of theJPEG compression unit 17A, an input port of theJPEG decompression unit 17B, an output port of thethumbnail generating unit 18, an output port of the image planesize conversion unit 19 and thefirst bus 15 are connected to thesecond bus 21 via abuffer circuit 20. - It is to be noted that the
buffer circuit 20 in this structure is constituted of a plurality of FIFOs (first-in/first-out memories) and their control circuits, and performs timing adjustment or multiplexing for individual sets of data to ensure that data collisions do not occur on thesecond bus 21. - In addition, the two-
dimensional processing unit 14A is internally provided with an outputdestination setting circuit 14B that selects thefirst bus 15 and/or thesecond bus 21 as an output destination of conversion output. - A
monitor display circuit 23, aremovable memory 24, anMPU 25, asystem memory 26 and anon-volatile memory 26A are also connected to thesecond bus 21. - A
photometering mechanism 28 for AE (automatic exposure) and AWB (automatic white balance adjustment) and anautofocus control mechanism 29 for AF (autofocus control) are connected to theMPU 25. - Furthermore, as illustrated in
FIG. 1 , adata transfer path 30, through which theMPU 25 inputs/outputs data from/to theimage memory 16 is provided. - The following is an explanation of operations performed in the embodiment of the present invention.
- (Operation Performed During Image-Capturing in Compression Mode)
-
FIG. 2 illustrates the operating timing achieved when compressing and recording image data. The following is an explanation of the operating timing for an image-capturing operation, given in reference toFIG. 2 . - 1. Pressing the shutter release button halfway down
- First, when the shutter release button (not shown) of the
electronic camera 10 is pressed halfway down, theMPU 25 issues a command for photographing preparation. In response to this command, thephotometering mechanism 28 starts a “photometering operation/white balance detection.” At the same time, theautofocus control mechanism 29 starts to implement focus control. - In parallel with these operations performed to prepare for a photographing operation, the
MPU 25 turns on the power to the recording system (the removable memory 24), and starts to “check theremovable memory 24.” It is to be noted that at this point, operations such as decision-making as to whether or not theremovable memory 24 is present, decision-making as to whether or not theremovable memory 24 is usable, collection of attribute information with respect to theremovable memory 24, decision-making as to whether or not theremovable memory 24 is formatted and initial setting for the driver are executed. - When these checking operations are completed, the
MPU 25 first stores the check data in thenon-volatile memory 26A and then turns off the power to the recording system. - 2. Release Operation (Pressing the Shutter Release Button All the Way Down
- When the shutter release button of the
electronic camera 10 is pressed all the way down, theMPU 25 issues a command to finalize the photographing preparation. In response to this command, thephotometering mechanism 28 “holds the results of exposure calculation performed based upon the photometering value/the results of white balance calculation.” In the mean time, theautofocus control mechanism 29 executes an AF lock. - In parallel with these operations to finalize the photographing preparation, the
MPU 25 turns on the power to the image-capturingelement 12, theremovable memory 24 and related circuits (operation to activate the means for image-capturing, operation to activate the means for recording). - It is to be noted that while the electronic camera in the embodiment is provided with a
dedicated photometering mechanism 28 and a dedicatedautofocus control mechanism 29, there are electronic cameras that execute AE/AWB/AF operations by using the image-capturingelement 12. In such a camera, the image-capturing element and the related circuits are turned on when the shutter release button is pressed halfway down. In this case, the operation to activate the means for image-capturing corresponds to an operation performed to switch from the AE/AWB/AF operations to a still photographing state. During the switching operation, the read mode for the image-capturingelement 12 is reset, the mechanical shutter is closed (if the camera is provided with a mechanical shutter) and unnecessary electrical charges are cleared from the image-capturingelement 12 and so forth. - 3. Exposure Operation at the Image-
Capturing Element 12 - When the operation to activate the means for image-capturing is completed, the image-capturing
element 12 starts an exposure operation. - In parallel with the exposure operation, the
MPU 25 sequentially executes the following operations. - The check data obtained by checking the
removable memory 24 are retrieved from thenon-volatile memory 26A. - Information such as the photographing date is obtained from the internal timer and is edited as photographic information (operation to edit photographic information). The photographic information resulting from the editing operation is temporarily recorded in the
system memory 26. - A FAT (file allocation table) is read out from the
removable memory 24 and placed on thesystem memory 26 - (Operation to Prepare for Data Recording in the Removable Memory 24).
- It is to be noted that if the exposure time is long and there is some processing idle time, the directory entry and the FAT entry required for recording the photographed image should be detected as well, by referencing the check data.
- 4. Image Data Scan/Read Operation and Two-Dimensional Image Processing
- When a specific length of exposure time elapses, image data (CCD raw data) are sequentially read out from the image-capturing
element 12. After undergoing A/D conversion, the image data are sequentially output to the real-time processing unit 14. The real-time processing unit 14 performs real-time processing such as defective pixel correction, black level clamping, white balance adjustment and gamma correction on the image data and sequentially records the processed image data in theimage memory 16 via thefirst bus 15. - In order to perform two-dimensional image processing in units of (N×M) pixels, the two-
dimensional processing unit 14A starts two-dimensional image processing (such as color interpolation processing) in parallel at the point in time at which image data corresponding to M lines have been accumulated in the image memory 16 (seeFIG. 3A ). - It is to be noted that if a line memory corresponding to M lines is provided inside the two-
dimensional processing unit 14A, the output from the real-time processing unit 14 can be directly provided to the two-dimensional processing unit 14A without temporarily recording it in theimage memory 16. However, since the capacity of such a line memory must increase if the number of pixels at the image-capturingelement 12 is large or the block size (N×M) is large, it is often difficult to provide the line memory inside the two-dimensional processing unit 14A. In addition, since other processing units cannot access the line memory, it becomes necessary to provide a dedicated line memory at each processing unit. This tends to lead to problems such as an increase in power consumption and the structures of the individual processing units becoming more complicated. - The embodiment, in which the problems described above are eliminated by making the plurality of processing units share the image memory (it is particularly desirable to employ a highspeed memory), achieves a structure that enables parallel execution of a plurality of types of processing in a flexible manner.
- It is to be noted that the output
destination setting circuit 14B sets thefirst bus 15 as the destination of the output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14A in the compression mode. Thus, image data having been processed at the two-dimensional processing unit 14A are sequentially output to thefirst bus 15 and sequentially recorded in theimage memory 16. - 5. JPEG Compression Processing
- Next, the
JPEG compression unit 17A starts a trial compression on the image data having undergone the two-dimensional image processing. - In JPEG compression processing, an image compression calculation is executed on the individual color components (e.g., a Y Cb Cr color image) in units of 8×8 pixels block. Thus, the
JPEG compression unit 17A starts the trial compression in parallel at a point in time at which an 8×8 pixels block is output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14A. Since the two-dimensional processing unit 14A prepares a single 8×8 pixels block for each color component based upon image data corresponding to (N+7)×(M+7) pixels, parallel execution of the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and the trial compression proceeds from this time point (seeFIG. 3B ). - For instance, when processing a 4:4:4 color image, the image compression calculation is executed by handling 8×8 pixels blocks, each block corresponding to one of the three colors, i.e., Y, Cb and Cr, as one unit. Thus, the
JPEG compression unit 17A starts the execution of trial compression in parallel when the three 8×8 pixels blocks have been output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14A. In other words, parallel execution of the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and the trial compression proceeds from the time point at which the two-dimensional processing unit 14A has created the three 8×8 pixels blocks (one each of Y, Cb and Cr) based upon the image data corresponding to (N+7)×(M+7) pixels (seeFIG. 3C ). - In addition, when processing a 4:2:2 color image, the image compression calculation is executed by handling two 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component and one each of 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components as one unit. Thus, the
JPEG compression unit 17A starts the execution of trial compression in parallel when the four 8×8 pixels blocks (two 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component, and one each of 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components) have been output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14A. In other words, parallel execution of the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and the trial compression proceeds from the time point at which the two-dimensional processing unit 14A has created the four 8×8 pixels blocks (two 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component, and one each of 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr, components) based upon the image data corresponding to (N+15)×(M+7) pixels (seeFIG. 3D ). - When processing a 4:2:0 color image, the image compression calculation is executed by handling four 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component and one each of 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components as one unit. Thus, the
JPEG compression unit 17A starts the execution of trial compression in parallel when the six 8×8 pixels blocks (four 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Y component, and one each of 8×8 pixels blocks corresponding to the Cb and Cr components) have been output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14A. In other words, parallel execution of the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and the trial compression proceeds from the time point at which the two-dimensional processing unit 14A has created the six 8×8 pixels blocks based upon the image data corresponding to (N+15)×(M+15) pixels (seeFIG. 3E ). - It is to be noted that in the trial compression described above, the
JPEG compression unit 17A does not output compressed data and instead notifies theMPU 25 of only the code volume of the compressed data. For this reason, during this trial compression period, the efficiency of utilization of thesecond bus 21 by theJPEG compression unit 17A becomes extremely low. Thus, in order to utilize thesecond bus 21 efficiently during the trial compression period, the following processing (processing 6˜7 below) is executed in parallel. - 6. Image Plane Size Conversion for Display
- When a sufficient volume of pixel blocks required for image plane size conversion are accumulated in the
image memory 16 by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A, the image planesize conversion unit 19 sequentially takes in the image data via thefirst bus 15 and executes image plane size conversion for display. As a result, the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and the image plane size conversion processing proceed in parallel. - The image plane
size conversion unit 19 sequentially outputs the display image data prepared in this manner to thebuffer circuit 20. - 7. Thumbnail Generation Processing
- When a sufficient volume of pixel blocks required for thumbnail generation are accumulated in the
image memory 16 by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A, thethumbnail generating unit 18 sequentially takes in the image data via thefirst bus 15 and executes thumbnail generation processing. As a result, the image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and the thumbnail generation processing (a type of image plane size conversion) proceed in parallel. - The
thumbnail generating unit 18 sequentially outputs the thumbnail image data thus created to thebuffer circuit 20. - 8. Timing Adjustment by the
Buffer Circuit 20 - The
buffer circuit 20 alternately outputs the display image data and the thumbnail image data onto thesecond bus 21 to ensure that its internal FIFOs do not overflow. TheMPU 25 sequentially records the display image data and the thumbnail image data on thesecond bus 21 in respective areas on thesystem memory 26. - The
monitor display circuit 23 sequentially reads out the display image data from thesystem memory 26 and executes monitor display. It is to be noted that if a video memory is provided within themonitor display circuit 23, the display image data may be directly written in the video memory without engaging the system memory 26 (it is to be noted that the structure achieved by providing themonitor display circuit 23 on the side where thefirst bus 15 is present is described in the summary of the invention). - If a video memory is provided within the
monitor display circuit 23, by directly providing an output from the image planesize conversion unit 19 to themonitor display circuit 23, it becomes unnecessary to engage either thefirst bus 15 or thesecond bus 21, so that the loads on the buses are further reduced. - 9. Thumbnail Compression Processing by the
MPU 25 - When a sufficient volume of pixel blocks required to perform JPEG compression processing on the thumbnail image data are accumulated in the
system memory 26, theMPU 25 sequentially takes in the thumbnail image data fromimage memory 16 via thesecond bus 21 and executes compression processing on the thumbnail image data (software processing). As a result, the thumbnail generation processing (a type of image plane size conversion) by thethumbnail generating unit 18 and the thumbnail compression processing by theMPU 25 proceed in parallel. - In this case, the output of the thumbnail image data is completed after the two-dimensional image processing is completed. As a result, the thumbnail image data requiring is a relatively small capacity are output onto the second bus slowly. Thus, the image compression calculation can be performed at the
MPU 25 side by allowing a sufficient margin in correspondence to the speed at which the thumbnail image data are output so that it becomes possible to complete the thumbnail compression without letting a great length of time elapse after the completion of the processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A. - The thumbnail image data that have been compressed in this manner (hereafter referred to as “thumbnail compressed data”) are sequentially recorded in the
system memory 26. - 10. JPEG Compression (Main Compression)
- At the time point at which the trial compression ends, the
JPEG compression unit 17A notifies theMPU 25 of the compressed code volume. Based upon the compressed code volume, theMPU 25 determines a correct scale factor for achieving a target compression rate and notifies theJPEG compression unit 17A of the determined scale factor. - In conformance to the scale factor, the
JPEG compression unit 17A executes JPEG compression (main compression), sequentially outputs the compressed data to thebuffer circuit 20 and temporarily records them in thesystem memory 26. Since the processing 6˜9 described above is almost completed at this time point, thebuffer circuit 20 can output the compressed data from theJPEG compression unit 17A onto thesecond bus 21 almost in real time. - 11. Recording into the
Removable Memory 24 - The
MPU 25 creates the header portion of an image file by combining the thumbnail compressed data and the photographic information on thesystem memory 26, and records the header portion thus created in theremovable memory 24. Then, theMPU 25 sequentially reads out the compressed data from thesystem memory 26 via thesecond bus 21 and sequentially records the compressed data thus read out in theremovable memory 24 as the data portion of the image file. At this time, thesystem memory 26 functions as a buffer memory for the compressed data. The image compression processing by theJPEG compression unit 17A and the recording of the compressed data proceed in parallel in this manner. - It is to be noted that the
MPU 25 may sequentially record compressed data output onto thesecond bus 21 in theremovable memory 24 without engaging thesystem memory 26. In such a case, pipeline type parallel processing of the compression operation and the recording operation is implemented. - Through the series of operations described above, compressed image data are recorded in the
removable memory 24. - Next, the operation performed when image data are recorded in an uncompressed state is explained.
- (Operation Performed During Image-Capturing in the Non-Compression Mode)
-
FIG. 4 illustrates the operation timing achieved when recording image data in a non-compressed state. The following is an explanation of the features that characterize the operation performed in the non-compression mode. - First, the output
destination setting circuit 14B sets both thefirst bus 15 and thesecond bus 21 as destinations of an output resulting from conversion processing in the non-compression mode. As a result, image data having undergone the two-dimensional image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A are simultaneously output to thefirst bus 15 and thesecond bus 21. - It is to be noted that in this situation, the image data output by the two-
dimensional processing unit 14A may be directly provided to thethumbnail generating unit 18 and the image planesize conversion unit 19 via atransmission path 42 shown inFIG. 1 for the execution of thumbnail generation and image plane size conversion. - The image data output to the
first bus 15 are taken in by thethumbnail generating unit 18 and the image planesize conversion unit 19, as in the operation in the compression mode explained earlier. - The image data output to the
second bus 21, on the other hand, undergo timing adjustment via thebuffer circuit 20, are sequentially output to thesecond bus 21 and are temporarily recorded in thesystem memory 26. TheMPU 25 reads out the uncompressed image data from thesystem memory 26 and sequentially records them in theremovable memory 24 as the data portion of the image file. The image processing by the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and the recording of the uncompressed image data proceed in parallel in this manner. It is to be noted that if the recording speed at theremovable memory 24 is low, idle time is created at thesecond bus 21. In order to utilize this idle time efficiently, the following processing 1 and 2 is inserted in parallel. - 1. The thumbnail image data output by the
thumbnail generating unit 18 first undergo timing adjustment via thebuffer circuit 20, are sequentially output onto thesecond bus 21 and are temporarily recorded in thesystem memory 26. - 2. The display image data output by the image plane
size conversion unit 19 first undergo timing adjustment via thebuffer circuit 20, are sequentially output onto thesecond bus 21 and are temporarily recorded in thesystem memory 26. Themonitor display circuit 23 reads out the display image data from thesystem memory 26 and executes monitor display (the display image data may be directly written in the video memory within themonitor display circuit 23 without engaging the system memory 26). - When the recording of the data portion of the image file is completed, the
MPU 25 creates the header portion of the image file by combining the thumbnail image (in the non-compression mode, the thumbnail image, too, is often recorded in an uncompressed state) and the photographic information on thesystem memory 26 and records the header portion thus created in theremovable memory 24. - It is to be noted that if the thumbnail image is uncompressed, the file header has a fixed length. Thus, a memory area for the file header may be secured in advance when recording the data portion of the image file earlier.
- In addition, if the
MPU 25 compresses the thumbnail image, the compression may be executed in parallel with the thumbnail generation processing. - Through the operations described above, recording of uncompressed image data is completed.
- Next, the operation performed when reproducing an image is explained.
- (Operation During Image Reproduction)
-
FIG. 5 illustrates the operating timing achieved when reproducing image data in theremovable memory 24. The following is an explanation of the image reproduction operation given in reference to FIG. S. - 1. “Operation to Activate the
Removable Memory 24” and “Retrieve of Management Information” - When the
electronic camera 10 is set in the reproduction mode, theMPU 25 turns on power to the removable memory 24 (operation to activate the removable memory 24). - In parallel with this operation, the
MPU 25 reads out the check data obtained by checking theremovable memory 24 from thenon-volatile memory 26A. The check data include information necessary to retrieve management information such as the name of the directory in which the image file to be reproduced first is contained, the name of the image file and information related to the file system which may be DOS FAT or the like. Based upon the check data, theMPU 25 retrieves the management information necessary for the execution of the reproduction operation onto thesystem memory 26. - The operation to activate the
removable memory 24 and the retrieve of the management information proceed in parallel in this manner. - 2. “DOS FAT Read,” “Compressed Data Read” and “JPEG Decompression Processing”
- When the
removable memory 24 is started up and a data read is enabled, the FAT and the directory area which is to be reproduced first are read out onto thesystem memory 26. During this operation, the management information related to the file system retrieved in 1 above is utilized. - The
MPU 25 sequentially reads out compressed data from theremovable memory 24 onto thesecond bus 21 and sequentially records them in thesystem memory 26. TheJPEG decompression unit 17B sequentially takes in the compressed data from thesystem memory 26 via thebuffer circuit 20 and sequentially executes JPEG decompression processing. - “Compressed data read” and “compressed data decompression conversion” proceed in parallel in this manner.
- It is to be noted that the
MPU 25 may send the compressed data on thesecond bus 21 to thebuffer circuit 20 without engaging thesystem memory 26. In this case, theJPEG decompression unit 17B receives the compressed data without engaging thesystem memory 26, and pipeline type parallel processing of the “compressed data read processing” and the “JPEG decompression processing” is executed. - 3. Image Plane Size Conversion for Display
- The image data that have been decompressed by the
JPEG decompression unit 17B are sequentially output to thefirst bus 15 and are temporarily recorded in theimage memory 16. The image planesize conversion unit 19 converts the image plane size of the image data by sequentially taking in the image data fromimage memory 16 to generate display image data. The display image data are sequentially output onto thesecond bus 21 via thebuffer circuit 20 and are sequentially recorded in thesystem memory 26. Themonitor display circuit 23 reads out the display image data from thesystem memory 26 and executes monitor display. It is to be noted that this operation may be performed by employing the video memory within themonitor display circuit 23, and in such a case, since the band of thesecond bus 21 is not used unnecessarily, the efficiency of the processing performed using thesecond bus 21 is further improved. - “Compressed data decompression conversion” and “image plane size conversion” proceed in parallel in this manner.
- 4. Operation to Reproduce an Uncompressed Image
- If the image data read out from the
removable memory 24 are in an uncompressed state, the image data are sequentially passed through thesecond bus 21, thebuffer circuit 20 and thefirst bus 15 and are finally taken in by the image planesize conversion unit 19. The image planesize conversion unit 19 converts the image plane size of the image data and creates display image data. The display image data are written in the video memory within themonitor display circuit 23 or thesystem memory 26 via thebuffer circuit 20 and are displayed at the monitor. - “Image read” and “image plane size conversion” proceed in parallel in this manner.
- In the embodiment, the
first bus 15 and thesecond bus 21 are separated from each other with a high degree of reliability. Consequently, data collisions on the buses are effectively prevented, while enabling smooth execution of a plurality of types of image conversion processing. In addition, as explained in reference toFIGS. 2, 4 and 5, parallel execution of processing in various operations is enabled in the embodiment. Furthermore, by using thebuffer circuit 20, data collisions are effectively prevented from occurring within theelectronic camera 10. Moreover, as explained earlier, the software processing by theMPU 25 and the hardware processing performed by theJPEG compression unit 17A, thethumbnail generating unit 18, the image planesize conversion unit 19 and theJPEG decompression unit 17B are executed in concert with each other in an effective manner. - Through the synergistic effect achieved by the combination of the above, the embodiment achieves a great reduction in processing time in the
electronic camera 10. - It is to be noted that a means for transmission may be provided among the means for image data conversion. For instance, as illustrated in
FIG. 1 , thetransmission path 42 for transmitting 8×8 pixels blocks may be provided between the two-dimensional processing unit 14A and theJPEG compression unit 17A. In an electronic camera structured as described above, it becomes possible for theJPEG compression unit 17A to execute compression processing by directly taking in 8×8 pixels blocks via thetransmission path 42. In this case, since no 8×8 pixels block data flow on thefirst bus 15, thefirst bus 15 can be utilized efficiently for other processing. - In addition, by providing the
transmission path 42 to directly transmit the output from the two-dimensional processing unit 14A to thethumbnail generating unit 18 and the image planesize conversion unit 19, availability of thefirst bus 15 can be assured in an efficient manner. - It is to be noted that if the thumbnail compression is achieved through hardware, a
transmission path 41 for directly transmitting a thumbnail image from thethumbnail generating unit 18 to theJPEG compression unit 17A, as illustrated inFIG. 1 , may be provided. - Furthermore, a
transmission path 43 for directly transmitting decompressed image data from theJPEG decompression unit 17B to the image planesize conversion unit 19 may be provided, as illustrated inFIG. 1 . In this case, it becomes possible to assure availability of thefirst bus 15 in the reproduction mode in an efficient manner. - Moreover, by providing an output destination setting circuit at both the
JPEG compression unit 17A and thethumbnail generating unit 18, compressed data and thumbnail compressed data (or thumbnail image data) can be returned to the first bus side and then recorded in theimage memory 16, which, in turn, makes it possible to increase the number of frames over which photographing is enabled in highspeed continuous shooting. - It is to be noted that a means for input source setting may be provided at a means for image data conversion. For instance, as illustrated in
FIG. 1 , an inputsource setting circuit 19A may be provided at the image planesize conversion unit 19. By adopting this structure, image data in an uncompressed state read out from the removable memory can be directly provided to the image planesize conversion unit 19 sequentially via thesecond bus 21 and a transmission path 44. In this situation, the image data having undergone size conversion at the image planesize conversion unit 19 then undergo timing adjustment at thebuffer circuit 20, are returned to thesecond bus 21 and are finally provided to themonitor display circuit 23. - In addition, an output destination setting circuit may be added at the image plane
size conversion unit 19 structured as described above. In such a case, the destination of an output from the image planesize conversion unit 19 can be temporarily switched to imagememory 16 on the side where thefirst bus 15 is present to avoid an overflow at thebuffer circuit 20 when, for instance, the load on thesecond bus 21 has increased excessively (e.g., when a reproduction frame feed has been repeatedly performed). - Furthermore, while the explanation is given in reference to the embodiment on an example in which the
first bus 15 is directly connected to the plurality of means for image data conversion (14A, 17A, 18 and 19), the present invention is not limited to this example. Input buffers such as line memories may be individually provided between thefirst bus 15 and the plurality of means for image data conversion (14A, 17A, 18 and 19). Since the image output from the real-time processing unit 14 can be directly taken into the individual input buffers by adopting such a structure, theimage memory 16 is accessed less frequently so that the length of processing time is further reduced.
Claims (2)
1. An electronic camera comprising:
an image-capturing device that captures an image of a subject and generates image data;
an image processing device that performs two-dimensional image processing on the image data generated by the image-capturing device; and
a compression conversion device that performs image compression on the image data having undergone the two-dimensional image processing at the image processing device, wherein:
processing time during an image-capturing stage in the electronic camera is reduced by implementing in parallel the two-dimensional image processing on the image data performed by the image processing device and the image compression on the same image data performed by the compression conversion device.
2. An electronic camera according to claim 1 , wherein when the image processing device has performed the two-dimensional image processing on a part of the image data, the compression conversion device starts the image compression on the image data having undergone the two-dimensional image processing.
Priority Applications (2)
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US11/979,211 US20080062272A1 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2007-10-31 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
US13/450,567 US8610793B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2012-04-19 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
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JP11-275232 | 1999-09-28 | ||
JP27523299 | 1999-09-28 | ||
JP11-334586 | 1999-11-25 | ||
JP33458699A JP4304795B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 1999-11-25 | Electronic camera |
US50528100A | 2000-02-16 | 2000-02-16 | |
US11/333,243 US7580060B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2006-01-18 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
US11/979,211 US20080062272A1 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2007-10-31 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
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US11/333,243 Division US7580060B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2006-01-18 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
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US13/450,567 Continuation US8610793B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2012-04-19 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
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US20080062272A1 true US20080062272A1 (en) | 2008-03-13 |
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US11/333,243 Expired - Fee Related US7580060B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2006-01-18 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
US11/979,210 Expired - Fee Related US7847832B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2007-10-31 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
US11/979,211 Abandoned US20080062272A1 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2007-10-31 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
US13/450,567 Expired - Fee Related US8610793B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2012-04-19 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
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US11/333,243 Expired - Fee Related US7580060B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2006-01-18 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
US11/979,210 Expired - Fee Related US7847832B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2007-10-31 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
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US13/450,567 Expired - Fee Related US8610793B2 (en) | 1999-09-28 | 2012-04-19 | Electronic camera that reduces processing time by performing different processes in parallel |
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JP (1) | JP4304795B2 (en) |
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Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
JP2001169167A (en) | 2001-06-22 |
US7580060B2 (en) | 2009-08-25 |
US20060114330A1 (en) | 2006-06-01 |
US8610793B2 (en) | 2013-12-17 |
JP4304795B2 (en) | 2009-07-29 |
US20120200730A1 (en) | 2012-08-09 |
US7847832B2 (en) | 2010-12-07 |
US20080062271A1 (en) | 2008-03-13 |
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