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Digital Camera Patent Abstract
A digital camera device includes a digital compressed image data
generating unit which generates digital compressed image data having
a large number of a group of pictures (GPOs) having a plurality
of picture frames based on a video signal generated by picking-up
an image of a subject by an image pick-up, and which adds, to a
header (SH) of the picture group, address information on a predetermined
picture frame (P picture) in the picture groups of the digital compressed
image data. The digital compressed image data is recorded to the
recording medium. Thus, the picked-up and generated image data is
fast transferred to an image recording and reproducing device without
deterioration.
Digital Camera Patent Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A digital camera device comprising: an image pick-up unit which
picks up an image of a subject and generates a video signal; a digital
compressed image data generating unit which generates digital compressed
image data having a large number of picture groups comprising a
plurality of picture frames based on the video signal from the image
pick-up unit, and which adds, to a header portion of the picture
group, address information on a predetermined picture frame in the
picture groups of the digital compressed image data; and a recording
unit which records, to a recording medium, the digital compressed
image data that is generated by the digital compressed image data
generating unit.
2. The digital camera device according to claim 1, wherein the
digital compressed image data recorded to the recording medium is
fast transferred to image recording and reproducing devices via
data transfer lines, in the same state of the digital compressed
image data.
3. The digital camera device according to claim 1, wherein the
digital compressed image data recorded to the recording medium is
fast transferred to image recording and reproducing devices by a
cradle connected via data transfer lines in the same state of the
digital compressed image data.
4. The digital camera device according to claim 1, wherein, in
the digital compressed image data, the header portions of the picture
groups have address information of a first P picture and a second
P picture in each of the picture groups comprising a plurality of
picture frames starting an I picture.
5. The digital camera device according to claim 2, wherein, in
the digital compressed image data, the header portions of the picture
groups have address information of a first P picture and a second
P picture in each of the picture groups comprising a plurality of
picture frames starting an I picture.
6. The digital camera device according to claim 3, wherein, in
the digital compressed image data, the header portions of the picture
groups have address information of a first P picture and a second
P picture in each of the picture groups comprising a plurality of
picture frames starting an I picture.
7. A method for generating an image pick-up signal, comprising:
a step to generate digital compressed image data having a large
number of picture groups comprising a plurality of picture frames
based on a video signal generated by picking-up an image of a subject;
and a step to generate the digital compressed image data comprising
a header portion of each of the picture groups comprising address
information on a predetermined picture frame in the picture groups
of the digital compressed image data and record the generated data
to a recording medium.
8. The method for generating an image pick-up signal according
to claim 7, wherein the digital compressed image data recorded to
the recording medium is fast transferred to image recording and
reproducing devices via data transfer lines, in the same state of
the digital compressed image data.
9. The method for generating an image pick-up signal according
to claim 7, wherein the digital compressed image data recorded to
the recording medium is fast transferred to image recording and
reproducing devices by a cradle connected via data transfer lines
in the same state of the digital compressed image data.
10. The method for generating an image pick-up signal according
to claim 7, wherein the digital compressed image data has, in a
header portion of the picture group, address information of a first
P picture and a second P picture in each of the picture groups comprising
a plurality of picture frames starting from an I picture.
11. The method for generating an image pick-up signal according
to claim 8, wherein the digital compressed image data has, in a
header portion of the picture group, address information of a first
P picture and a second P picture in each of the picture groups comprising
a plurality of picture frames starting an I picture.
12. A method for generating an image pick-up signal according to
claim 9, wherein the digital compressed image data has, in a header
portion of the picture group, address information of a first P picture
and a second P picture in each of the picture groups comprising
a plurality of picture frames starting an I picture.
Digital Camera Patent Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of
priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-85603
filed on Mar. 23, 2004; the entire contents of which are incorporated
herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a digital camera device
and a method for generating an image pick-up signal which can fast
transfer, to various external recording devices, digital image data
that is picked-up and is recorded to a digital camera.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Conventionally, a digital video camera for sequentially
recording digital image data to a magnetic tape is put into practical
use, as an image recording and reproducing device in which a moving
image or a still image signal that is generated by picking-up an
image of a subject by an image pick-up device is subjected to digital
processing, the digital image data is recorded to a recording medium,
and the recorded digital image data is reproduced.
[0006] Recently, the widespread of a personal computer and the
Internet enables the practical use of digital cameras, including
a digital video camera and a digital still camera using a random
access recording medium such as a hard disk, an optical disk, and
a semiconductor memory.
[0007] Particularly, in the recent digital still camera, a continuous
photographing function enables the image pick-up operation and the
recording operation of both the moving image and the still image
for a predetermined time. According to a method for recording the
moving image and the still image to the recording medium, the still
image is recorded to a magnetic tape for moving image, the still
image is recorded to the semiconductor memory serving as the recording
medium different from that of the moving image, or the still image
is recorded to the optical disk or hard disk.
[0008] Upon recording the digital image data to the various recording
media, an image pick-up signal is converted into a digital signal,
then, the digital signal is compressed, the digital image data is
generated, and a large number of moving images or still image data
can be recorded to the recording medium.
[0009] The compressing method of the digital signal includes JPEG,
MPEG1, MPEG2, and the like. The moving image or still image is compressed
by the above-mentioned compressing method, and the compressed image
is recorded to the magnetic tape serving as the sequential access
medium or the hard disk, optical disk, or semiconductor memory serving
as the random access medium.
[0010] A TV receiver serving as an image reproducing and display
device for reproducing and displaying the moving image or still
image recorded by the compressing method has a screen aspect (4:3)
of a standard television and a screen aspect (16:9) of a high-definition
television (HDTV). The digital TV standard includes 480 interlace
(hereinafter, referred to as an I), 480 progressive (hereinafter,
referred to as a P), 720P, 1080I, and the like, which are classified
by the vertical resolution.
[0011] In addition to the TV receivers, the moving image or still
image is reproduced and is displayed on a monitor for personal computer
with high resolution, and the still image is printed by a printer.
[0012] That is, the conventional digital cameras need the compressing
and recording method of the moving image and still image onto the
recording medium and the recording format corresponding to the TV
receiver, monitor, and printer which output, reproduce, and display
the digital image data that is picked-up and is recorded.
[0013] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-32105
proposes a digital camera wherein upon picking-up and recording
the image of the subject, the image data is generated and is recorded
to the recording medium in accordance with the recording format
corresponding to a plurality of reproducing and display formats,
namely, corresponding to the standard TV and high-definition TV
(HDTV) and, upon reproducing the image data, the digital camera
restores the image data recorded to the recording medium to the
image data in accordance with the reproducing and display format
and outputs it.
[0014] In the conventional digital cameras, the image data is restored
to the data in the recording format corresponding to the reproducing
and display device and is outputted to generate the image data in
the recording format corresponding to the reproducing and display
device on the reproducing and display side, record the generated
image data to the recording medium, and reproduce the image data
from the recording medium. However, if the digital camera side uses
a reproducing and displaying device having the recording format
different from that of the digital camera side, namely, the recording
format for recording no image data or recording format for recovering
no image data, the reproducing and display device side needs to
convert the recording format for reproducing and displaying the
image data outputted from the conventional digital camera into a
recording format in which the image data can be reproduced and displayed
in the reproducing and display device.
[0015] That is, in the case of reproducing and displaying the image
data picked-up and recorded by the conventional digital camera by
the reproducing and display device, the image data is converted
into the data in the recording format corresponding to the reproducing
and display device on the digital camera side or the image data
from the digital camera is converted into the data in the recording
format corresponding to the reproducing and display device on the
side thereof so as to reproduce and display the image data.
[0016] However, in the case of transferring the image data picked-up
and recorded by the conventional digital cameras to the image recording
and reproducing device having the hard disk, optical disk, or semiconductor
memory serving as the random access medium, so-called dubbing, the
image data in a video format transferred from the digital camera
needs to be decoded in the image recording and reproducing device
and the decoded image data needs to be encoded to the data in the
recording format in the image recording and reproducing device,
that is, re-conversion, and further needs to be recorded if the
recording format of the digital camera is different from that of
the image recording and reproducing device. The re-conversion and
recording require the same time as those of the actual image pick-up
time of the image data, and the image quality deteriorates due to
the re-conversion of the recording format of the image data.
[0017] In the case of transferring the image data of the digital
cameras to the personal computer and recording, managing, reproducing,
and displaying the image data on the personal computer, the personal
computer decodes, once, the video format of the image data transferred
from the digital camera, and further re-converts the decoded video
format into the video format of the personal computer. The re-conversion
requires the same time as that of the actual image pick-up time
for picking-up the image by the digital cameras, and the re-conversion
results in the deterioration in image quality.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0018] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to
provide a digital camera device and a method for generating an image
pick-up signal, the device and method can generate an image data
of a subject in a recording format with which the picked-up and
generated image data is transferred to an image recording and reproducing
device fast without deterioration.
[0019] A digital camera device according to the present invention
comprises: an image pick-up unit which picks up an image of a subject
and generating a video signal; a digital compressed image data generating
unit which generates digital compressed image data having a large
number of picture groups comprising a plurality of picture frames
based on the video signal from the image pick-up unit, and which
adds, to a header portion of the picture group, address information
on a predetermined picture frame in the picture groups of the digital
compressed image data; and a recording unit which records, to a
recording medium, the digital compressed image data that is generated
by the digital compressed image data generating unit.
[0020] In the digital camera device according to an aspect of the
present invention, the digital compressed image data recorded to
the recording medium is fast transferred to image recording and
reproducing devices via data transfer lines, in the same state of
the digital compressed image data.
[0021] In the digital camera device according to another aspect
of the present invention, in the digital compressed image data,
the header portions of the picture groups have address information
of a first P picture and a second P picture in each of the picture
groups comprising a plurality of picture frames starting an I picture.
[0022] A method for generating an image pick-up signal according
to another aspect of the present invention comprising: a step to
generate digital compressed image data having a large number of
picture groups comprising a plurality of picture frames based on
a video signal generated by picking-up an image of a subject; and
a step to generate the digital compressed image data comprising
a header portion of each of the picture groups comprising address
information on a predetermined picture frame in the picture groups
of the digital compressed image data and record the generated data
to a recording medium.
[0023] In the method for generating the image pick-up signal according
to another aspect of the present invention, the digital compressed
image data recorded to the recording medium is fast transferred
to image recording and reproducing devices via data transfer lines,
in the same state of the digital compressed image data.
[0024] In the method for generating the image pick-up signal according
to another aspect of the present invention, the digital compressed
image data comprises a header portion of the picture group comprising
address information of a first P picture and a second P picture
in each of the picture groups comprising a plurality of picture
frames starting an I picture.
[0025] In the digital camera device according to the present invention,
the image recording and reproducing device does not require the
re-conversion of the video format and the compressed image data
is fast transferred without deterioration.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0026] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital
camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0027] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a state
in which a DVD recorder and a TV monitor are connected to the digital
camera device by a LAN line according to the embodiment of the present
invention;
[0028] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a recording
format of compressed image data of the digital camera device according
to the embodiment of the present invention;
[0029] FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the transfer operation
of the compressed image data between the digital camera device and
the DVD recorder according to the embodiment of the present invention;
and
[0030] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a state
in which the DVD recorder and the TV monitor are connected to the
digital camera device via a cradle by the LAN line according to
the embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0031] Hereinbelow, an embodiment of the present invention will
be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, a
description is given of the structure of a digital camera device
with reference to FIG. 1 according to the embodiment of the present
invention.
[0032] According to the embodiment of the invention, a digital
camera 31 comprising: an image pick-up unit 10 comprising a solid-state
image pick-up device, which A/D converts an analog image pick-up
signal that is generated by photoelectrically converting a subject
image by the solid-state image pick-up device, into a digital image
pick-up signal, and outputs the digital image pick-up signal; a
camera signal processing circuit 11 which inputs an A/D converting
signal and performs predetermined signal processing such as white
balance; a JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit 12, serving
as the digital compressed image data generating unit, which compresses/decompresses
the digital image signal subjected to the signal processing by the
camera signal processing circuit 11 in a JPEG format (in the case
of the still image) or in an MPEG format (in the case of the moving
image); a memory 13 which temporarily records the compressed image
data from the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit 12; a
hard disk drive (hereinafter, referred to as an HDD) 14 which records,
to a hard disk, the compressed image data temporarily-recorded to
the memory 13; a memory card 15 serving as a non-volatile memory;
a video decoder circuit 16 which decodes the compressed image data
temporarily-recorded to the memory 13; an LCD driver circuit 17
which controls the driving operation of a liquid crystal display
panel (hereinafter, referred to as an LCD) 18 based on the image
signal decoded by the video decoder circuit 16; a LAN control circuit
19 and a LAN output terminal 21 which transfer the compressed image
data recorded to the HDD 14 or memory card 15 to an image recording
and reproducing device via LAN line; a USB control circuit 20 and
a USB output terminal 22 which transfer the compressed image data
recorded to the HDD 14 or memory card 15 to the image recording
and reproducing device via a USB line; and a CPU 23, serving as
a microprocessor, which controls the entire driving operation of
the digital camera 31. The digital camera 31 reproduces, to the
memory 13, a control program based on a software stored in the hard
disk upon turning on the power, and the CPU 23 controls and calculates
the data by using the control program.
[0033] The JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit 12 serving
as an unit for generating the digital compressed image data has
a function for generating the digital compressed image data (JPEG
or MPEG image data) having a large number of a group of pictures
GOP comprising a plurality of picture frames based on a video signal
from the image pick-up unit 10, and a function for adding, to a
header portions of the picture groups, address information on a
predetermined picture frame in the picture group GOP of the digital
compressed image data, which will be described later.
[0034] The hard disk of the HDD 14 and the memory card 15 serving
as the non-volatile memory function as the recording media which
record the digital compressed image data that is generated by the
digital compressed image data generating unit.
[0035] The CPU 23 controls the entire driving operation of the
digital camera 31 under the control program, and further controls
the writing and reproducing operation of the digital compressed
image data to the recording medium. That is, the CPU 23 comprises
recording unit 23a which records, to the recording medium, the digital
compressed image data generated by the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing
circuit 12 and reproduces the recorded data from the recording medium.
[0036] The video decoder circuit 16 reproduces the compressed image
data recorded to the HDD 14 or memory card 15, and reproduces and
displays the image data decompressed by the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing
circuit 12 on the LCD 18.
[0037] Although not shown, the digital camera 31 comprises an optical
lens system which captures subject light to the solid-state image
pick-up device and a function for focusing and adjusting the stop
of the optical lens system by using the light measurement of the
subject and the distance measurement to the subject and driving
the shutter, or the like. However, the functions are not described
because they do not directly relate to the present invention.
[0038] That is, under the control operation of the CPU 23, the
still image signal, serving as an analog signal, photo-electrically-converted
by the solid-state image pick-up device is converted into the digital
signal, and is inputted to the camera signal processing circuit
11, upon picking-up the still image by the digital camera 31. In
the camera signal processing circuit 11, the digital still image
signal is subjected to a predetermined signal processing and is
outputted to the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit 12.
In the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit 12, the still
image data subjected to the JPEG compression is temporarily recorded
to the memory 13, and the still image data temporarily-recorded
is decoded by the video decoder circuit 16, and the still image
picked-up is reproduced and is displayed on the LCD 18 via the LCD
driver circuit 17. Further, the still image is recorded to the HDD
14 or the memory card 15.
[0039] Under the control of the CPU 23, in the case of picking-up
the moving image by using the digital camera 31, the moving image
signal, serving as the analog signal, photoelectrically-converted
by the solid-state image pick-up device is converted into the digital
signal, and is inputted to the camera signal processing circuit
11. In the camera signal processing circuit 11, the digital moving
image signal is subjected to predetermined signal processing, and
is outputted to the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit
12. In the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit 12, the moving
image data that is subjected to an MPEG compression is temporarily
recorded to the memory 13, and the temporarily-recorded moving image
data is decoded by the video decoder circuit 16, and the moving
image picked-up is reproduced and is displayed on the LCD 18 via
the LCD driver circuit 17, and the image is recorded to the HDD
14 or memory card 15.
[0040] In the case of reproducing the compressed still image data
or compressed moving image data that is recorded to the HDD 14 or
the memory card 15, the compressed still image data or compressed
moving image data reproduce from the HDD 14 or memory card 15 is
decompressed by the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit
12. Further, the decompressed data is outputted to the video decoder
circuit 16 via the memory 13, and is subjected to a predetermined
decoding. The still image or moving image is reproduced and is displayed
on the LCD 18 via the LCD driver circuit 17 and is a picked-up image
is checked.
[0041] In the case of transferring the compressed still image data
or compressed moving image data recorded to the HDD 14 or memory
card 15 in the digital camera 31 to the personal computer or a DVD
recorder serving as an external image recording and reproducing
device, conventionally, the video decoder circuit 16 decodes the
moving image data that is recorded to the HDD 14 or the memory card
15 and is MPEG-compressed, and the decoded data is demodulated to
the analog image signal. The demodulated analog image signal is
outputted to the DVD recorder from a video terminal or an S terminal
arranged to the digital camera. In the DVD recorder, the MPEG compressing
circuit thereof MPEG-compresses the analog image signal transferred
from the digital camera 31 again, and the compressed data is recorded
to the hard disk or optical disk serving as the recording medium
of the DVD recorder.
[0042] In the digital camera 31, the compressed moving image data
of the moving image data picked-up and recorded for one hour is
transferred and is recorded to the DVD recorder for the same one
hour as the image picked-up time. Further, the case of transferring
the moving image data by using a USB line or LAN line to the personal
computer from the digital camera 31 is the same as that of the DVD
recorder.
[0043] Then, in the digital camera 31 according to the embodiment
of the present invention, a header portion has positional information
of one picture frame of a group of pictures (GOP) in the MPEG compressing
format. Thus, it has been noted that in the DVD recorder the data
in the MPEG compressing format is recognized as streaming data and
is fast transferred to the DVD recorder or personal computer via
the LAN line.
[0044] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a state
of connecting the DVD recorder and the TV monitor to the digital
camera device via a LAN line according to the embodiment of the
present invention.
[0045] Referring to FIG. 21, the LAN output terminal 21 of the
digital camera 31 according to the embodiment of the present invention
is connected to a router 33 via a LAN cable 35, and the router 33
is connected to a DVD recorder 32 via a LAN cable 36. Incidentally,
the DVD recorder 32 may directly be connected to the digital camera
31 without getting through the router 33.
[0046] The digital camera 31 is connected to a TV monitor 34 via
a video cable 37. Further, the DVD recorder 32 is connected to the
TV monitor 34 via a video cable 38.
[0047] The TV monitor 34 displays the moving image comprising the
compressed image signal outputted from the digital camera 31 and
an operation menu of the digital camera 31. The input of the TV
monitor 34 is switched, thereby displaying the moving image recorded
to the DVD recorder 32 or an operation menu of the DVD recorder
32.
[0048] In the digital camera 31 according to the present invention,
referring to FIG. 3, the moving image signal is encoded to streaming
data comprising sequence layers comprising a sequence header (SH)
and picture group data (also referred to a group of pictures, abbreviated
to a GOP hereinafter) in accordance with the MPEG2 compression to
MPEG compress the moving image signal in the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing
circuit 12 shown in FIG. 1. The GOP of the sequence layers comprises
15 frames of Intra-Picture (hereinafter, abbreviated to an I picture),
Predictive-Picture (hereinafter, abbreviated to a P picture) in
the inter-frame direction, and Bidirectionally predictive-Picture
(hereinafter, abbreviated to a B picture)
[0049] Further, in the digital camera 31 according to the present
invention, the JPEG/MPEG compressing/decompressing circuit 12 writes
and records address information of the first P picture and the second
P picture to the sequence header SH from among the plurality of
picture frames of the P pictures and B pictures starting from the
I picture formed by the GOP, and thus the DVD recorder 32 recognizes
that the moving image data transferred from the digital camera 31
is compressed by the MPEG2 method. The compressed moving image data
transferred from the digital camera 31 is fast recorded as it is
to the recording medium of the DVD recorder 32. The DVD recorder
32 does not need to decode the compressed moving image data from
the digital camera 31 once and encode it to the compressed image
data again, and thus the compressed moving image data can be fast
transferred without deterioration.
[0050] The transfer time is reduced to {fraction (1/10)}, as compared
with the time for decoding once the compressed moving image data
transferred from the conventional digital camera to the DVD recorder
32, encoding again the decoded moving image data to the compressed
moving image data of the DVD recorder 32, and recording the encoded
data. Therefore, the moving image data corresponding to one hour
is fast transferred and recorded in about six min, and the data
deterioration is prevented without the re-encoding processing of
the compressed moving image data.
[0051] A description is given of the operation for transferring
and recording the moving image data to the DVD recorder 32 from
the digital camera 31 with reference to FIG. 4.
[0052] FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation for transferring
the compressed image data between the digital camera device and
the DVD recorder according to the embodiment of the present invention.
[0053] Referring to FIG. 2, the digital camera 31 and the DVD recorder
32 are connected to the router 33 by the LAN cables 35 and 36 and
then the digital camera 31 reproduces the setting of a communication
mode from a menu screen and displays the reproducing data on the
TV monitor 37 (in step S1). On the setting menu of the communication
mode, a menu for obtaining the MAC address serving as identification
information (ID) of the DVD recorder 32 is set (in step S2).
[0054] The DVD recorder 32 reproduces the setting of the communication
mode from the menu screen (in step S3). In the communication mode,
the acquisition of the MAC address serving as the identification
information (ID) of the digital camera 31 is requested (in step
S4).
[0055] The digital camera 31 requests the transmission of the ID
of the digital camera 31 and the transmission of the ID of the DVD
recorder 32 to the DVD recorder 32 (in step S5). The DVD recorder
32 recognizes the ID of the digital camera 31 in response to the
request for sending the ID in step S5, returns the ID of the DVD
recorder 32 to the digital camera 31, and exchanges the IDs (in
step S6).
[0056] The IDs of the digital camera 31 and the DVD recorder 32
are checked by exchanging the IDs in steps S5 and S6, and the mutual
communication is recognized (in step S7). After checking the mutual
communication in step S7, the digital camera 31 checks and requests
the recording capacity of the compressed image on the DVD recorder
32 side (in step S8). In response to the request in step S8, the
DVD recorder 32 returns information on the recording capacity such
as a maker name, type No., and free capacity of the recording medium
of the DVD recorder 32 (in step S9).
[0057] The digital camera 31 determines based on the information
on the recording capacity from the DVD recorder 32 in step S9 that
the compressed image data is transferred (in step S10). Then, a
file of the compressed image data to be transferred is selected
from the menu screen on the digital camera 31 (in step S11). The
compressed image data of the selected file is transferred to the
DVD recorder 32 (in step S12).
[0058] The compressed image data of the file transferred from the
digital camera 31 is received by the DVD recorder 32, and is recorded
to the recording medium as stream of the compressed image data (in
step S13). The DVD recorder 32 returns, to the digital camera 31,
the recording state of the compressed image data of the file transferred
from the digital camera 31 to the DVD recorder 32 (in step S14).
In the DVD recorder 32, it is checked that the transferred file
is normally recorded (in step S15). Then, it is checked whether
or not the compressed image data of another file recorded to the
digital camera 31 is transferred. When it is checked that the compressed
image data of the other file is transferred, the processing returns
to step S11. When it is checked that the compressed image data of
the other file is not transferred, the transfer operation ends.
[0059] A personal computer for receiving the compressed image data
is connected to the USB output terminal 22 of the digital camera
31. The personal computer allows the compressed moving image data
transferred from the digital camera 31 to be temporarily recorded
to an HDD thereof, and the moving image to be displayed on the monitor.
Further, in the personal computer, the moving image is recorded
in a DVD-video format or DVD-VR format by using authoring burning
application or the like arranged to the personal computer.
[0060] Next, a description is given of another connecting method
of the digital camera 31 and the DVD recorder 32 by the LAN cable
according to the embodiment of the present invention with reference
to FIG. 5.
[0061] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the state
of connecting the DVD recorder and the TV monitor to the digital
camera device via a cradle by the LAN line according to the embodiment
of the present invention.
[0062] Referring back to FIG. 2, in the connection of the digital
camera 31 and the DVD recorder 32, the LAN cable 35 is directly
connected to the LAN output terminal 21 of the digital camera 31.
However, generally, the digital camera 31 does not have the LAN
output terminal 21 and has only the USB output terminal 22 in many
cases.
[0063] A cradle 40 has a converting function for transferring the
data from the USB output terminal 22 by the LAN line. Thus, the
USB output terminal 22 of the digital camera 31 may be connected
to the cradle 40 by using the function arranged to the cradle 40,
and further may be connected to the DVD recorder 32 from the cradle
40 via the LAN cable 35, the router 33, and the LAN cable 36.
[0064] That is, the digital camera 31 according to the present
invention converts the picked-up compressed image data into the
compressed image data in conformity with the DVD-VR format serving
as the recording format of the DVD recorder 32, and records the
converted data to the recording medium. The compressed image data
in the DVD-VR format is fast recorded to a DVD-RAM at several millions
times without deterioration of image quality, and is further transferred
and is recorded to another DVD-RAM for a time shorter than the actual
time for recording the picked-up image of the subject. In the digital
camera 31, the sequence header has the address information of the
first P picture and the second P picture of the picture frame starting
the I picture from among the plurality of picture frames comprising
the I picture, P picture, and B picture forming a group of pictures
GOP upon recording the digital video data in the DVD-VR format.
Thus, in the DVD recorder, the address information of the first
P picture and the second P picture is recognized upon converting
the data in the DVD-VR format into the data in the DVD-Video format.
As a consequence, the data is fast transferred and recorded without
re-encoding the data in the DVD-VR format into the data in the DVD-Video
format. The fast transfer and recording is the same in the personal
computer. The authoring software of the personal computer facilitates
the conversion of the data to the DVD-Video format.
[0065] It is possible to fast transfer and record, to the DVD recorder
32 or personal computer, the compressed moving image data that is
picked-up, is generated, and is recorded by the digital camera 31,
by using the LAN line or USB line.
[0066] The compressed image data of the moving image is described
according to the embodiment of the present invention. Needless to
say, the present invention can be applied to the still image including
audio information.
[0067] Having described the preferred embodiments of the invention
referring to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood
that the present invention is not limited to those precise embodiments
and various changes and modifications thereof could be made by one
skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of
the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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