Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-24
2004-02-03
Chevalier, Robert (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06687453
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital image reproducing apparatus and a method for reproducing an image picked up with a digital still camera.
2. Description of Related Art
A digital still camera is provided with an image sensor, which converts an optical image thereon into an electrical image signal. The picked-up image by the image sensor is converted into JPEG coded data or the like and the coded data is stored onto digital camera storage such as a flash memory incorporated therein. When reproduced, the camera decodes the stored data and displays the decoded image on a finder composed of a liquid crystal display (LCD). A digital still camera may be provided with a driver for an external storage medium like a floppy disk (FD), a compact FD, a PC card mounted with a flash memory, a compact flash memory card, or the like. In this case, the coded data of a picked-up image is stored onto the external storage medium. The digital still camera can also be equipped with a serial interface, which is used to output the stored coded data to the outside. Some of the digital still cameras are further equipped with a video output terminal and an audio output terminal and can output the stored data as a video signal and an audio signal.
Since the LCD finder of a digital still camera is small, it is necessary to transfer the image data to external equipment having a large-screen display device to make a large screen display of the picked-up image. Further, for making a print output, the image data needs to be transferred to external equipment having a printer.
FIG. 1
shows a general configuration for reproduction of image data or audio data stored in the digital still camera by using a personal computer. A digital still camera
100
is composed of a camera housing
108
which is provided with a video output terminal
109
to be connected with a television set, an audio output terminal
110
to be connected with the television set or the like, a serial data terminal
111
for digital video data and digital audio data, and a PC card slot
112
for writing digital video data onto a PC card or the like mounted with a storage medium such as a flash memory.
A personal computer
400
has a serial data terminal
401
capable of inputting digital video data and digital audio data, or a PC card slot
402
for writing data to or reading data from a PC card including the flash memory or the like. To the personal computer
400
, there are also connected a monitor
404
using a CRT, a LCD or the like. Further, there are also connected a printer
405
through a printer cable
406
, a keyboard
407
and a pointing device
408
.
In such a system, a user turns on power-supply switches of the personal computer
400
, the monitor
404
and the printer
405
, respectively, and waits for a start up of an operating system (OS) of the personal computer
400
. In the case where the image data of the digital still camera
100
is transferred to the computer
400
using the PC card or the like, the PC card storing the image data is inserted into the PC card slot
402
in the operating state where the OS is normally running on the CPU. In the case of transferring the image data of the digital still camera
100
through the serial interface, the serial data terminal
111
of the digital still camera
100
is connected to the serial data terminal
401
of the personal computer
400
through the serial data cable. Then, the digital still camera
100
is turned on and thereby the image data is transferred from the digital still camera
100
through the serial data cable to the computer
400
and the transferred image data is stored onto the hard disk or the like of the personal computer
400
.
After the image data has been transferred to the personal computer
400
, the user inputs a command through the keyboard
407
or the mouse
408
so that a digital image reproducing program is started. Further, the user inputs the directory of an image data file storing the image data and then the digital image reproducing program starts reproducing the original image from the image data of the image data file to display it on the monitor
404
. If there is an audio data file associated with the image data file, the audio data file is also read out to reproduce an audio signal at the same time when the image data file is read out.
When the user wants to make a print out of the image on a paper or the like, the user clicks a print button on the screen display with the mouse
408
and thereby the displayed image data is output to the printer
405
, which then produces hard copy output.
FIG. 2
shows another system configuration for reproducing image or sound stored in the digital still camera
100
. The video output terminal
109
of the digital still camera
100
is connected with a video input terminal
506
of a television set
501
through a cable
503
, and the audio output terminal
110
of the digital still camera
100
is connected with an audio input terminal
507
of the television set
501
through a cable
502
. Further, a video image output terminal
508
of the television set
501
is connected with a video signal input terminal
509
of a video printer
505
through a cable
504
. A remote control unit
510
transmits a control signal to the television set
501
by infrared ray, for example.
In such a system, when the power supply cord of the television set
501
has been inserted into a wall outlet, power is supplied to necessary circuit components including a CPU and a remote-control receiver circuit. In this state, the power supply switch remains in the off position and therefore power is not supplied to television receiver circuits including a tuner, an NTSC signal processor, and a cathode-ray tube (CRT). When the power-supply switch has been turned on manually or by the remote control unit, the power is supplied to the tuner, the NTSC signal processor, the CRT and other necessary circuits.
If the user wants to reproduce an image picked up by the digital still camera
100
, the user operates the remote control unit
510
to change an input directory from the tuner to the video input terminal
506
and the audio input terminal
507
connected to the digital still camera
100
. Accordingly, the video signal and the audio signal of the digital still camera
100
are transferred to the television set
501
. The image picked up by the digital still camera
100
is reproduced and displayed on the CRT, and the sound recorded in the digital still camera
100
is output from a speaker.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 4-328974, there is disclosed a portable still image filing apparatus which is equipped with the input terminal for video and audio signals and an interface to an external storage unit, and further equipped with an interface to a personal computer and the signal output terminal used to be connected to an external monitor device. The monitor device can be incorporated in this filing apparatus.
According to the conventional still image filing apparatus, the respective image and audio data input from the video signal and audio signal input terminals can be reproduced by the monitor device. The image data and audio data can also be processed by the externally connected personal computer. Further, information can be input to and output from the external storage unit through the interface to the external storage unit.
As image and sound recorded by the digital still camera have been reproduced in the manner as described above, there are developed following disadvantages.
1) In the case of reproduction of image and sound through the serial interface or the external storage medium such as a PC card or the like, it is necessary to prepare the personal computer
400
equipped with a serial interface port or an interface for the external storage medium, such as a PC card slot
402
. The user must wait for start-up of the OS of the personal computer
400
, and after the startup of the OS, the user must start the image and sound reproduction
Miyamoto Tuneo
Sakamoto Kazuaki
Sunagare Hiroshi
Takehara Yuushi
Tanaka Hiroki
Chevalier Robert
Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP.
NEC Viewtechnology Ltd.
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