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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording the information such as a still picture or voice on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory.
2. Related Background Art
Electronic still cameras for recording still pictures or voices on a magnetic disk known as a still video floppy as the recording medium have been available on the market. However, electronic still cameras using a memory card having a solid
memory device such as DRAM, SRAM or EEPROM as the recording medium have been proposed.
In this type of camera, when the solid memory device is used as the recording medium, a method of managing the recording area is used in which the recording area is divided into a plurality of regions (clusters) each having a predetermined
recording capacity. That is, the image, voice or data is recorded in a unit of cluster. For the image, a predetermined number of clusters are assigned, while for the voice, an arbitrary number of clusters corresponding to its length are assigned.
Thus, in a conventional example, an arbitrary number of clusters are assigned to record the voice, such that the number of unrecorded clusters is not equal to an integral multiple of the number of clusters necessary to record the image. Hence,
for example, there may possibly occur an uneconomical situation such that the image can not be recorded because of the shortage of only one cluster. Also, there may occur a case such that a great number of clusters are used for the voice, so that the
expected number of images can not be recorded.
With the electronic still cameras previously described, a method of managing the storage area of the memory card is used in, which the storage area is divided into a plurality of blocks (hereinafter referred to as clusters) each having a
predetermined recording capacity, into which the image, voice and data can be recorded.
However, since, for example, when the image and the voice are recorded, associated with each other, the user can select the compression methods (modes) separately for the image and the voice, the user may have a feeling of disorder at the
reproduction due to a difference between the compression ratios of the image and the voice.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus which can resolve the above-described problems totally or individually.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus for recording image signals on an expected number of sheets in a reliable manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a recording
apparatus having the improved operativity.
For these objects, according to a preferred example of the present invention, there is disclosed a recording apparatus for recording the still image and the voice onto a recording medium, in which each voice is recorded at a fixed recording
capacity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus for recording the voice in an expected recording time in a reliable manner.
Also, it is another object of the present invention to provide a multi-media recording apparatus for effectively recording a plurality of kinds of the information onto a recording medium.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus having a new feature not seen conventionally.
Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following examples and the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1, consisting of FIGS. 1A and 1B, shows a constitutional block diagram in one example of the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in this example;
FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in this example;
FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a distance measurement and light measurement routine in this example;
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the image recording in this example;
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the voice recording in this example;
FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in the second example;
FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in the second example;
FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in the second example;
FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of a recorded packet search routine in this example;
FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in the third example;
FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in the third example;
FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of a recorded packet search routine as shown at S7 in FIG. 11;
FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of a remainder indicating data formulating routine as shown at S8 in FIG. 11;
FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of a recording mode A setting routine as shown at S52 in FIG. 5;
FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of a recording mode B setting routine as shown at S53 in FIG. 5;
FIG. 17 shows a flowchart for the data recording in this example;
FIG. 18 shows a flowchart of the main routine in the third example;
FIG. 19 shows a flowchart as indicated at S8 in FIG. 18;
FIG. 20 shows a flowchart as indicated at S9 in FIG. 18;
FIG. 21 shows a flowchart as indicated at S21 in FIG. 19;
FIG. 22 shows a flowchart as indicated at S22 in FIG. 19;
FIG. 23 shows a flowchart as indicated at S23 in FIG. 19;
FIG. 24 shows a flowchart as indicated at S24 in FIG. 19;
FIG. 25 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in the fifth example;
FIG. 26 shows a flowchart of the main routine, in part, in the fifth example;
FIG. 27 shows a flowchart as indicated at S6 in FIG. 25;
FIG. 28 shows a flowchart as indicated at S9 in FIG. 25;
FIG. 29 shows a constitutional block diagram of a recording system in the sixth example of the present invention;
FIG. 30, consisting of FIGS. 30A and 30B shows a constitutional block diagram of a reproduction system; and
FIGS. 31-33 show flowcharts of a system control circuit 150, in part, at the recording.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1, 10 is a taking lens, 12 is a shutter having a stop feature, 14 is an image pick up device for converting an optical image into an electric signal, 16 is a process circuit for performing well-known camera signal processing such as gamma
correction, 18 is an A/D converter for converting an analog output into a digital signal, and 20 is an image compression circuit for making the data compression with, for example, an adaptive discrete cosine transformation (ADCT). Also, 22 is a
microphone for the input of voice, 24 is a noise reduction circuit for reducing the noise of voice signal from the microphone 22, 26 is an A/D converter for converting an output of the noise reduction circuit 24 into a digital signal, and 28 is a voice
compression circuit for compressing the data with an adaptive differential PCM (ADPCM).
30 is a memory control circuit for controlling the A/D converters 18, 26, and the compression circuits 20, 28, the compression data obtained by the compression circuit 20, 28 being written into a buffer memory 32 under the control of the memory
control circuit 30. 34 is an interface with a memory card 36, which comprises a memory circuit 38 for storing the data and its management information, and a memory control circuit 40 for controlling the writing and reading of the memory circuit 38, and
a backup battery if required. The buffer memory 32 can be dispensed with when the memory device for use in the memory circuit 38 is a high speed device, but it is necessary for a low speed device such as an EEPROM. The memory may be any one of dynamic
memory, such as semiconductor memory, or hard disk, or static memory.
42 is a lens drive circuit for driving a focusing lens of the taking lens 10, 44 is a shutter drive circuit for driving the shutter 12, 46 is a distance measurement circuit for measuring the distance to an object, 48 is a light measurement
circuit for measuring the luminous intensity of the object, and 50 is a flash. 52 is a system control circuit for controlling the whole system, 54 is a display for displaying the operation conditions, such as a liquid crystal display, and 56 is a memory
for storing the constants or variables for the operation of the system control circuit 52.
58 is a group of switches for inputting various operation commands for the system control circuit 52. The group of switches 58 includes, for example, a main switch 60, a distance measurement and light measurement switch 62, which is closed
during the operation of a release button, not shown, to instruct the distance measurement circuit 46 and the light measurement circuit 48 to make the distance measurement and the light measurement, a release switch 64 which is closed upon the completion
of the operation of the release button, not shown, to instruct the recording of a picked up image into the memory card 36, a mode switch 66 for selecting between a single (S) mode in which one sheet or pair of picture(s) is taken, a continuous (C) mode
in which a plurality of sheets or pairs of pictures are taken continuously and a self-timer photographing mode, an image mode switch 68 for selecting the image recording method, such as the number of sheets for recording the image, the distinction of the
frame recording/field recording, aspect ratio, pixel configuration, compression method, and the compression ratio, a voice on/off switch 70 for designating the on/off of the voice recording, and a voice mode switch 72 for selecting the voice recording
method such as the recording time, recording band, and the number of recording channels in stereo or two languages.
The system control circuit 52 controls the taking lens 10 to be brought into the focusing state by causing the lens driving circuit 42 to drive the focusing lens of the taking lens 10 with, in accordance with a measurement result of the distance
measurement circuit 46. The system control circuit 52 also determines the time of opening the shutter 12 with the shutter driving circuit 44 so as to have an optimal exposure quantity, in accordance with a measurement result of the distance measurement
circuit 48.
The recording area of the memory circuit 38 in the memory card 36 is segmented into a card maintenance area and a data area, as shown in FIG. 1B at C and D, the data area being divided in a unit of cluster. The recording information such as
image, voice or data is handled in a unit called a packet. The card maintenance area is comprised of a header, a packet discrimination, a directory and a memory allocation table. The header includes a format number, a card number, the number of
remaining clusters, the number of used clusters, the final packet number, the start unused cluster number, and a card label. The packet discrimination is comprised of the type and category of each packet recorded, and the relating information of the
packet. The directory is comprised of the number of a start cluster for each packet. The memory allocation table contains the cluster number to be connected to each cluster.
The data area is handled logically in a unit of a packet. The packet is comprised of a packet header and a packet data of arbitrary length. The packet header is comprised of the packet information, the date and a title. The packet information
includes the coding method, the compression mode and the recording mode for the image or voice. For the image, it further includes the number of horizontal and vertical pixels and the aspect ratio of pixel. The packet is recorded in the memory 38,
physically distributed into a plurality of clusters.
Referring now to FIGS. 2 to 6, the operation of this example will be described below. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the flowchart of the main routine in this example.
Upon turning on the power, the system control circuit 52 initializes the flags and control variables (S1), and if the main switch 60 is closed (S2), a check for the setting of the memory card 36 is made (S3). If the memory card 36 is not set, a
warning is displayed with the display unit 54, and the system waits for the main switch 60 to be operated (S8). Also, if the setting for the erroneous deleting prevention has been made on the set memory card 36 (S4), a warning is displayed and the
system waits for the main switch 60 to be operated (S8).
If the setting for the erroneous deleting prevention has not been made (S4), the number of unrecorded clusters to be recorded into the card maintenance area of the memory circuit 38 is read via the interface 34 and the memory control circuit 40
(S5). The system control circuit 52 determines the number of clusters necessary to record one sheet of image in accordance with an image compression mode to be recorded in the ROM area of the memory circuit 38 or set by the image mode switch 68 (S6). A
check is made to determine whether or not the image can be recorded into the unrecorded cluster (m.gtoreq.a) (S7), in which if it can not be recorded (m<a), a warning is displayed, and the processing returns to step S2 (S8), while if it can be
recorded (m.gtoreq.a), the voice on/off switch 70 is examined (S9) to start the voice recording if the switch 70 is on.
First, the voice-recording time t recordable in one cluster is calculated in accordance with the voice compression mode to be recorded in the ROM area of the memory circuit 38 or set by the voice mode switch 72 (S10). The number of clusters n
(=m-a) remaining after one sheet of image is recorded on m unrecorded clusters is calculated (S11). If n=0 (S12), a warning of the impossible recording is displayed (S16), and the voice recording mode set by the switch 70 is released (S17). If
n.gtoreq.a (S12), the recording time (=t.times.a) corresponding to the number of clusters necessary to record one sheet of image is calculated (S13), while if a>n>0, the recording time T (=n.times.t) taken when the voice is recorded on all the
remaining clusters is calculated (S14), and the time T calculated at S13 and S14 is displayed as the recording timer on the display 54 (S15).
After S15 and S17, if the distance measurement and light measurement switch 60 is off, the processing returns to S2 (S18), while if it is on, the distance measurement and the light measurement are made with the distance measurement circuit 46 and
the light measurement circuit 48 to adjust the focus of the taking lens 10 on an object, and determine the shutter time (Sl9). The details of the distance measurement and the light measurement will be described later. The distance measurement and the
light measurement are repeated (S19) until the distance measurement and light measurement switch 60 is on and the release switch 64 is turned on (S20).
If the release switch 64 is turned on, the photographing (image recording) is performed (S21). The details of the image recording will be described later. After one sheet of image is recorded, the number of unrecorded clusters m is updated
(S22), and then written into the card maintenance area of the memory circuit 38 (S23).
If the voice is recorded (S24), the number of unrecorded clusters m is substituted for n (S25). If n=0 (S26), a warning is displayed because there is no recordable cluster, and the processing returns to S2 (S29), if n.gtoreq.a (S26), the
recording time T (=t.times.a) corresponding to the number of clusters necessary to record one sheet of image is calculated (S27), and if a>n>0 (S26), the recording time T (=n.times.t) taken when the voice is recorded on all the remaining clusters
is calculated (S28).
After S27 and S28, the variable C indicating the number of recorded clusters is initialized (S30), and the voice recording is performed (S31). The details of the voice recording will be described later. After the voice recording (S31), the
number of acoustic recorded clusters C is subtracted from the number of unrecorded clusters m (S32), and the number of unrecorded clusters m is written into the card maintenance area of the memory circuit 38 (S33). The steps following S25 are repeated
until the recording is completed (S34), and the processing returns to S2 after the recording is completed.
FIG. 4 shows a detailed flowchart of the distance measurement and light measurement operation at S19 in FIG. 3. The distance to the object is measured with the distance measurement circuit 46 to store measurement data in the memory 56 (S41), and
the brightness of the object is measured with the light measurement circuit 48 to store measurement data in the memory 56 (S42). A determination is made whether or not the flash is necessary, based on a light measurement value of the light measurement
circuit 48 (S43), and if it is necessary, a flash flag is set to charge the flash 50 (S44).
FIG. 5 shows a detailed flowchart of the image recording at S21 in FIG. 3. The system control circuit 52 reads the distance data to the object which is stored in the memory 56, and drives a focusing lens of the taking lens 10 with the lens drive
circuit 42 to adjust the focus on the object (S51). Also, the shutter 12 is opened with the shutter drive circuit 44 in accordance with the light measurement data stored in the memory 56 to expose the image pick up device 14 (S52) A check is made to
determine whether or not the flash is necessary, based on the flash flag (S54), and if it is necessary, the flash 50 is lighted (S55). The system waits for the image pick up device 14 to terminate the exposure (S56), after which the shutter 12 is closed
(S57) to read the electric charge signal from the image pick up device 14, and the picked up image is written via a process circuit 16, the A/D converter 18, the image compression circuit 20, the buffer memory 32 and the interface 24 into the memory
circuit 38 of the memory card 36 (S58).
FIG. 6 shows a detailed flowchart of the voice recording at S31 in FIG. 3. The time T calculated at S27 and S28 is set to the recording timer (S61), and the compressed acoustic data is written into the memory circuit 38 and the timer count is
started (S62, S63). The time T is displayed on the display unit 54 (S64), and the number of recorded clusters C is counted up (S65). The acoustic recording is compulsorily stopped externally (S66), or the compressed voice data is continuously written
into the memory circuit 38 until T becomes zero (S67), while T is displayed (S64) and the number of recorded clusters C is counted up. If the acoustic recording is stopped (S66) or T=0 is reached (S67), the writing into the memory circuit 38 is
completed (S68). At the time when the writing into the memory circuit 38
is completed, C indicates the number of recorded clusters.
In the above example, a semiconductor memory is used as the recording medium, but the present invention is not limited by the kind of the recording medium.
As can be easily understood from the above description, with this example, the storage areas corresponding in number to the acoustic recordings can be assigned, taking into consideration the capacity necessary for the image recording, so that the
storage area of the recording medium can be effectively used.
The second example of the present invention will be described below.
In this example, in addition to the operation switches as shown in FIG. 1, the group of switches 58 further include a cluster number setting switch 74 for setting the number of clusters for the acoustic recording, and a switch 76 for designating
one of a plurality of the combinations of the voice compression modes and the recording times. The cluster number setting switch 74 allows the selection of a continuous acoustic recording (AC) mode in which the voice is continuously recorded until the
recording is terminated for one sheet of image or recordable clusters are exhausted, and a single acoustic recording (AS) mode in which the voice is recorded into a predetermined number of clusters for one sheet of image, with two modes AS1 and AS2
different in the number of clusters being selectable. In this example, two kinds of the cluster number can be selected in the single acoustic recording mode, but it is noted that three or more kinds or arbitrary kinds of the cluster number may be
selected. In this example, one of two kinds of combination (A1 mode and A2 mode) is selected with the switch 76, but it is also noted that three or more kinds of combination may be used. Of course, the recording time is longer with higher compression
ratio, if the cluster number is the same, and therefore, the recording time is shorter with lower compression ratio.
Referring now to FIGS. 7 to 10, the operation of this example will be described below. FIGS. 7 to 9 show the flowchart of the main routine in this example as a whole.
Upon turning on the power, the system control circuit 52 initializes the flags and control variables (S1), and if the main switch 60 is closed (S2), a check for the setting of the memory card 36 is made (S3). If the memory card 36 is not set, a
warning is displayed with the display unit 54, and the system waits for the main switch 60 to be operated (S8). Also, if the setting for the erroneous deleting prevention has been made on the set memory card 36 (S4), a warning is displayed and the
system waits for the main switch 60 to be operated (S6).
If the setting for the erroneous deleting prevention has not been made (S4), the number of unrecorded clusters to be recorded into the card maintenance area of the memory circuit 38 is read via the interface 34 and the memory control circuit 40
(S5). The system control circuit 52 also search the packet type information in the packet discrimination information to be recorded into the card maintenance area to investigate the respective number of packets for the image, the voice and the data
(S7). The number of packets for the image is displayed on the display unit 54 (S8), and the number of clusters necessary to record one sheet of image is determined in accordance with an image compression mode to be recorded in the ROM area of the memory
circuit 38 or set by the image mode switch 68 (S9, S10, S11). In this example, either of two image compression modes V1, V2 can be selected, in which a1 is substituted for a in the V1 mode (S10), while a2 is substituted for a in the V2 mode (S11).
A check is made to determine whether or not the image can be recorded into the unrecorded cluster (m.gtoreq.a) (S12), in which if it can not be recorded (m<a), a warning is displayed, and the processing returns to step S2 (S13), while if it
can be recorded (m.gtoreq.a), the voice on/off switch 70 is examined (S14) to go to S91 if it is off.
If the switch 70 is on (S14), the number of clusters n remaining after one sheet of image is recorded into the unrecorded cluster (=m-a) is calculated (S17). The number of required clusters b is determined in accordance with the a voice
compression mode stored in the ROM area of the memory circuit 38 or set by the switch 74 (S17, S18, S20). In the single acoustic recording mode AS1 or AS2, the comparison is made between the number of unrecorded clusters n (the number of unrecorded
clusters when it is assumed that one sheet of image is recorded) and b (S19), in which if the number of unrecorded clusters is insufficient (n<b), n is substituted for the number of recorded clusters b (S20). In the continuous acoustic recording (AC)
mode (S16), n is substituted for the number of recorded clusters b (S20). After S20, if b is equal to 0, a warning is displayed (S22) as it is meant that there is no recordable cluster, and then the acoustic recording mode is released (S23).
If the recording is possible because of n.gtoreq.b (S19), the recording time t for one cluster is determined in accordance with the voice compression mode recorded in the ROM area of the memory circuit 38, and a combination of the voice
compression mode set by the switch 76 and the recording time (S24, S25, S26). The number of recorded clusters b and t are multiplied to determine the recording time T (S27), and T is displayed as the recording timer on the display unit 54 (S28).
After S23 and S28, if the distance measurement and light measurement switch 60 is off, the processing returns to S2 (S91), while if it is on, the distance measurement and the light measurement are made with the distance measurement circuit 46 and
the light measurement circuit 48 to adjust the focus of the taking lens 10 on an object, and determine the shutter time (S92). The details of the distance measurement and the light measurement are the same as previously described. The distance
measurement and the light measurement are repeated (S92) until the distance measurement and light measurement switch 60 is on and the release switch 64 is turned on (S93).
If the release switch 64 is turned on, the photographing (image recording) is performed (S94). The details of the image recording will be described later. After one sheet of image is recorded, the number of unrecorded clusters m is updated
(S95), and then written into the card maintenance area of the memory circuit 38 (S96).
If the acoustic recording is performed (S97), the variable C indicating the number of recorded clusters m is initialized (S98), and the acoustic recording is executed (S99). The details of the acoustic recording will be described later. After
the acoustic recording (S99), the number of acoustic recorded clusters C is subtracted from the number of unrecorded clusters m (S100), and the number of unrecorded clusters m is written into the card maintenance area of the memory circuit 38 (S101).
The steps following S98 are repeated until the recording is completed (S102), and the processing returns to S2 after the recording is completed.
FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of a recorded packet search routine at S7 in FIG. 7. SC52 first initializes the variable V, A and D for the number of packets for the image, the voice and the data (S71), and the final packet number P recorded in the
card maintenance area of the memory circuit 38 is read via the interface 34 and the memory control circuit 40 (S72). If P=0, the search sequence is terminated. If it is not zero, a loop variable N is initialized (S74), the packet identification
information for packet N is read (S75). If the packet has not been used, the next packet is examined (S82), while if it has been used (S76), V, A or D is incremented (S78, S79, S80) depending on which of image, voice and data is recorded (S77). Each
packet is investigated while N is incremented (S82) up to the final packet number P (S81).
When the data packet is used as the relating packet of the image packet, the number of clusters d for use in the data packet must be added to the number of clusters a for use in the image packet. Specifically, at S10 and S11 in FIG. 7, a=a1+d
and a=a2+d are provided. And the information of the data packet must be written when the number of unrecorded clusters m is written together with other card maintenance data at S96 in the figure.
When the acoustic packet is used as the relating information of the image packet, the partner's packet number must be written into the packet relating information in the card maintenance data at one or both of S96 and S101 in FIG. 4.
When both the acoustic packet and the data packet are used as the relating information of the image packet, the number of the acoustic packet must be written into the packet relating information of the image packet, and the packet number of the
data packet into the packet relating informations of the acoustic packet. When the data packet is mainly used, the number of the image packet must be written into the relating information of the data packet, and the packet number of the acoustic packet
into the relating information of the image packet.
As can be easily understood from the above description, with this example, since the recording time is determined from the acoustic compression ratio, with a constant recording capacity for use in each acoustic recording, it is possible to use
the recording area of the recording medium effectively. Also, it is possible to prevent insufficient recording capacity from occurring in taking a photograph, because the capacity for the image recording is reserved.
The third example of the present invention will be described below.
In this example, in addition to the switches of the second example, there is further provided a display mode switch 78.
The display mode switch 78 is one for indicating the switching of the display for the use conditions of the memory card 36.
Referring now to FIG. 11 and ensuing figures, the operation of this example will be described below. FIGS. 11 and 12 show the flowchart of the main routine in this example as a whole.
Upon turning on the power, the system control circuit 52 initializes the flags and control variables (S1), and if the main switch 60 is turned on (S2), a check for the setting of the memory card 36 is made (S3). Then a check is made to determine
whether or not the setting for the erroneous erasing prevention has been mad | | |
