Television – Camera – system and detail – Still and motion modes of operation
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-04
2002-06-18
Ho, Tuan (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Still and motion modes of operation
C348S333020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06407772
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image pickup apparatus which displays the recording capacity of the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known image pickup apparatuses which can perform still and continuous (movie) photographing and recording operations. However, sufficient consideration has not yet been given to display methods with respect to such recording device memories (tapes, films, and the like).
Some silver-film cameras, which use silver films, have a single-photographing function of photographing a one-frame image in response to a single shutter release operation, and a continuous-photographing function of repeating photographing operations at a predetermined time interval during one shutter release operation. Pictures taken by a continuous photographing operation in such a silver-film camera can be seen at one time after printing the pictures, in contrast to reproduction in a video camera in which pictures are individually reproduced time-serially. Accordingly, in silver-film cameras display of remaining recording capacity on a time base is not performed, and only the number of used frames or the number of remaining frames is displayed or indicated based on the total number of frames of the film.
Recently, some camcorders, which can also record still pictures by operating a still-photographing operation member, have been on the market. However, the still-photographing operation is only an auxiliary function, and the used amount or the remaining amount of a tape is displayed only in units of hours/minutes/seconds. In a movie-photographing operation in a camcorder, the photographing rate is fixed at 60 fields/second or 50 fields/second conforming to broadcast standards, such as NTSC, PAL, or the like. Accordingly, the used amount or the remaining amount of tape is displayed only in terms of time at the fixed photographing rate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-described problems.
In one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided for use with an image recording device which records images on a recording medium, the image recording device having (i) means for detecting one of a remaining amount and a used amount of recording medium capacity, and (ii) a display for displaying the amount of recording medium capacity detected by the detecting means. The apparatus comprises an image recording mode-setting means for setting an image recording mode of the image recording device to one of a first mode and a second mode. A processor is provided for causing the display to display the amount of recording medium capacity as a first value in the first image recording mode and as a second, different value in the second recording mode.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an optimum display method for a recording device of a photographing apparatus capable of performing still- and continuous-photographing and recording operations.
In another aspect of the present invention, by detecting whether the current photographing mode is a still-photographing mode or a continuous-photographing mode, the recorded capacity or the unrecorded capacity of a recording device for recording information of images of objects is displayed in units of a frame in the still-photographing mode, and in units of time in the continuous-photographing mode, so that the remaining capacity (the number of frames in a still-photographing operation, and time in a continuous-photographing operation) of the recording device for the subsequent photographing operation in the set photographing mode can be seen at a glance.
In another aspect of the present invention, by displaying the unrecorded capacity of a recording device for recording information of images of objects only when the unrecorded capacity becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, a display having a plurality of digits is unnecessary, so that the size and the cost of an apparatus can be reduced.
In still another aspect of the present invention, when displaying the recorded capacity or the unrecorded capacity of a recording device for recording information of images of objects, the display is performed in units of a frame when a still-photographing starting member has been operated, and the display is performed in units of time when a continuous-photographing starting member has been operated, so that a display corresponding to the current photographing mode is automatically performed.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, when displaying the recorded capacity or the unrecorded capacity of a recording device for recording information of images of objects, in a mode of performing a continuous-photographing operation with a set time interval or speed, the contents of the display are changed in accordance with the set time interval or speed, so that the time period allowed for the subsequent continuous-photographing operation at the set interval or speed can be seen at a glance.
In yet a further aspect of the present invention, when displaying the recorded capacity or the unrecorded capacity of a recording device for recording information of images of objects by compressing the information with a set compression ratio, the contents of the display are changed in accordance with the set compression ratio, so that the remaining capacity (the number of frames in a still-photographing operation, and time in a continuous-photographing operation) for the photographing operation in the set photographing mode can be seen at a glance.
The foregoing and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjuction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4858028 (1989-08-01), Okino
patent: 4959735 (1990-09-01), Kawai
patent: 5032927 (1991-07-01), Watanabe et al.
patent: 5218452 (1993-06-01), Kondo et al.
patent: 5359422 (1994-10-01), Kukushima
patent: 3-154575 (1991-07-01), None
patent: 6-133193 (1994-05-01), None
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