Television – Camera – system and detail – Combined image signal generator and general image signal...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-24
2002-10-22
Vu, Ngoc-Yen (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Combined image signal generator and general image signal...
C348S333020, C348S376000, C396S374000, C358S906000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06469738
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of calculating the writable number of data onto a data recording medium and a recording medium, more particularly, to a method of calculating the number of frames allowable to be shot by a digital still camera and a digital still camera to which such system is applied.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the rapid popularization of the computer system in recent years, especially of the personal computers, demands for various peripheral apparatuses have been expanded. Above all, as a peripheral apparatus for intake of photographs into the personal computer, instead of the indirect intake procedure using a film scanner, flat bed scanner, or the like of taking in the photographs taken on a conventional film based on silver chloride system, there is noted with attention a digital still camera with which the photo-shot image can be directly taken in as digital data.
Now, in the conventional digital still camera, the image signal of one frame portion shot with a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) which is an image pickup device is converted to digital form and stored straight in a bit map format. Accordingly, the number of frames that can be photo-shot has not been so large. In recent years, however, there has been schemed to increase the number of frames which can be photographed in the compressed data in various data compressing method. Especially, the JPEG (Joint Photograph Experts Group) system which has been standardized in recent years has been developed for compressing the high precision still photographic data for computer system in high efficiency, which has also been utilized as the image file format for CD-ROM contents and Internet application.
Accordingly, in the field of the digital still camera, storage of the photo-shot image data not in the conventional simple bitmap format but in the JPEG format as described above is convenient, because the number of frames which can be stored in a digital still camera can be increased. In view of such a situation, there have been brought into practical use the digital still cameras designed to compress the photo-shot image data by JPEG format and store, but in such a case new problems occur.
In case of recording and storing the data of the photographed image in a data recording medium in the digital still camera by the conventional simple bitmap format, the data quantity is constant, and therefore the remaining number of shots can be easily obtained by dividing the data quantity of the unused region of the data recording medium by the data quantity of the bitmap data for one frame. However, in case of storing the image data by compression by JPEG format in the data recording medium in the digital still camera, the data after compression become the variable length data, so that there is a problem that the remaining number of frames allowable to be taken cannot be accurately calculated.
Different from the ordinary camera for which a silver salt system film is used, the digital still camera is usable to take shots in different resolutions frame by frame. However, because when the resolution is different the data quantity is naturally different, calculation of the remaining number of frames allowable to be shot is made more difficult. Furthermore, in the digital still camera, different from the conventional camera for which a film is used, a constitution to make the voice recording possible at the same time can be easily adopted. In case such a constitution is taken, voice data recording is also necessitated, which involves the greater difficulty in calculating the remaining number of frames allowable to be shot. However, it is the essential information for the user to grasp how many remaining shots can be taken, and accordingly it is a question never to be neglected for the manufacturer.
The present invention has been made in reflection of the situation as reviewed above. Concretely, it has an object to provide a method for calculating the number of the remaining frames allowable to be shot in case of recording and storing in the data recording medium in the digital still camera in compressing the image data of different data quantities shot in various resolutions in a digital still camera by a compression method in which the data after compression become the variable length data; a digital still camera to which above method is applied; and further, the calculating method per se; and a recording medium in which such computer program is recorded.
The method for calculating the writable number of data whose maximum data quantity is no more than the predetermined quantity of a variable length onto a data recording medium of the present invention, comprises the steps of: counting the number of the data already written onto the data recording medium; obtaining a first value by dividing the whole data capacity of the data recording medium onto which data can be written by the maximum data quantity; obtaining a second value by subtracting the number of data already written onto the data recording medium from the first value; counting the unused data capacity of the data recording medium; obtaining a third value by dividing the unused data capacity of the data recording medium by the maximum data quantity; comparing the second value with the third value; and making the smaller value out of the second value and the third value the writable number of the data onto the data recording medium.
According to such calculating method of the present invention, in writing the data whose maximum data quantity is no more than the predetermined quantity of the variable length onto the data recording medium, the number of the data written onto the data recording medium is counted, the first value obtained by dividing the whole data capacity of the data recording medium onto which data can be written by the maximum data quantity is obtained; the second value is obtained by subtracting the number of data written onto the data recording medium from the first value; the unused data capacity of the data recording medium is counted; the third value is obtained by dividing the unused data capacity of the data recording medium by the maximum data quantity; the second value is compared with the third value; and as a result, the smaller value out of the second value and the third value is obtained as the writable number of the data onto the data recording medium.
A method for calculating the writable number of plural kinds of data whose respective maximum data quantities differ from each other and are no more than the predetermined quantities of variable length onto a data recording medium of the present invention, comprises the steps of: counting the number of the data already written onto the data recording medium on the respective ones of the plural kinds of data; obtaining a first value by dividing the whole data capacity of the data recording medium onto which data can be written by the maximum data quantity of the predetermined kind of data out of the plural kinds; obtaining a second value by subtracting the number of data already written onto the data recording medium converted into the number of the predetermined kind of data from the first value; counting the unused data capacity of the data recording medium; obtaining a third value by dividing the unused data capacity of the data recording medium by the maximum data quantity of the predetermined kind of data; comparing the second value with the third value; and making the smaller value out of the second value and the third value the writable number of the data onto the data recording medium.
According to such method of the present invention, in writing a plurality of kinds of data whose respective maximum quantities differ from each other and are no more than the predetermined quantity of variable length onto the data recording medium, the number of the data written onto the data recording medium is counted on the respective data of plural kinds, the first value is obtained by dividing the whole data capacity of the data recording medium onto w
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP.
Sanyo Electric Co,. Ltd.
Vu Ngoc-Yen
LandOfFree
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