Electronic imaging apparatus having hierarchical image data storage structure for computer-compatible image data management
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An electronic still camera for taking pictures and storing them in an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
- image pick-up means for generating and outputting an analog image signal photoelectrically converted from an image incident thereon;
image data generating means for generating digital image data corresponding to said image signal outputted from said image pick-up means, a format of the digital image data being dependent upon a type of said applied storage device;
data storing means for storing said image data on said applied storage device in the form of a file organized by a directory or a subdirectory supported by a disk operating system and permitting storage of said image data in a tree hierarchical structure; and
a display device for displaying said tree hierarchial structure of said image data formed as said file, said display comprising first and second display sections, both the first and second display sections provided with a connection symbol therebetween, said first and second display sections for displaying two hierarchial levels.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An image incident on an image sensor is photoelectrically converted to digital image data and stored on a storage device or medium in a hierarchical form as a file in a directory or subdirectory supported by a disk operating system. In this way, the system realizes an electronic imaging apparatus fully compatible with a personal computer.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. An electronic still camera for taking pictures and storing them in an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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image pick-up means for generating and outputting an analog image signal photoelectrically converted from an image incident thereon; image data generating means for generating digital image data corresponding to said image signal outputted from said image pick-up means, a format of the digital image data being dependent upon a type of said applied storage device; data storing means for storing said image data on said applied storage device in the form of a file organized by a directory or a subdirectory supported by a disk operating system and permitting storage of said image data in a tree hierarchical structure; and a display device for displaying said tree hierarchial structure of said image data formed as said file, said display comprising first and second display sections, both the first and second display sections provided with a connection symbol therebetween, said first and second display sections for displaying two hierarchial levels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An electronic still camera for storing image data on an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; group determining means for determining whether image data to be stored belongs to a predetermined group by judging whether said image data is to be stored so as to be recognized as group data or independent data, and for outputting information indicative of said determination; and indicator storage means responsive to said group determining means for storing data representative of said indicative information in a header portion of an allocated file in said applied storage device. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. An electronic still camera for storing image data to an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; generating means for generating information indicative of whether image data to be stored belongs to a predetermined group by judging whether said image data is to be stored so as to be recognized as group data or independent data, and for outputting information indicative of said determination; and storing means responsive to said generating means for storing data representative of said indicative information in a control file particularly allocated in said applied storage device designating a tree hierarchical order of image files organized by directories and subdirectories supported by a disk operating system. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. An electronic still camera for retrieving image data from an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; discriminating means for discriminating whether data to be read out from said applied storage device is predetermined image data by examining attribute information associated with said data to be read out; and notifying means responsive to a result of said discrimination by said discriminating means for outputting a signal indicating whether the data to be read out is said predetermined image data, said notifying means including a display device for providing an impossible-to-reproduce alarm when the data intended for reproduction is not image data. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. An electronic still camera for storing image data in an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; and storage means for storing said digital data representation; generating means for generating subsidiary information indicative of various attributes of image data, and for outputting said information; and storing means for storing said indicative information in a control file particularly allocated in said applied storage device in a hierarchical order of image files organized by directories and subdirectories supplied by a disk operating system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. An electronic still camera for storing image data in image data files allocated on an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; means for generating subsidiary information required for a reproduction or retrieval operation performed by said apparatus; and storing means for storing said subsidiary information in a control file particularly allocated in a same hierarchial order as image data files organized by a directory or subdirectory supported by a disk operating system. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. An electronic still camera for storing image data in the form of image data files in an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; generating means for generating subsidiary information indicative of conditions commonly applied to take images concerning successive pick-up operations of said still camera; and storing means for collectively storing said subsidiary information and a number of images belonging to said series and a pointer representing a location of a forefront portion of each image data area of image data file in a control file particularly allocated in a hierarchical order of image data files organized by directories and subdirectories supported by a disk operating system. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. An electronic still camera for retrieving image data in image data files from an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; and storage means for storing said digital data representation; recognition means for recognizing information indicative of conditions commonly applied to take images concerning a series of operations, a number of images belonging to said series and a pointer representing a location of a forefront portion of each allocated image data file in said applied storage device, said information being retrieved from a control file particularly allocated in a hierarchical order of image data files organized by directories and subdirectories supported by a disk operating system; and reproducing means for successively reproducing images corresponding to image data in said image data files by reading attribute information of an image data file located at a forefront position of said series and then directly reading an image data section of each said image data file by referring to a pointer representing a location of a forefront portion of an image data area in each said image data file, without referring to attribute information of each said image data file associated with a second and subsequent file of said series, based on a recognition by said recognition means, thereby enabling high speed successive reproduction. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. An electronic still camera for retrieving image data of image data files from an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; recognition means for recognizing information to be utilized in a reproduction or retrieval operation of the apparatus, said information being retrieved from a control file particularly allocated in a same hierarchical order as said image data files organized by a directory or subdirectory supported by a disk operating system; and reproducing means for reproducing images corresponding to said image data in said image data files based on the recognition by said recognition means. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. An electronic still camera for storing data in the form of image data files allocated in an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; clock means for generating time data; and name generator means for producing a name of said files so that at least a partial section of the name is generated by a calculation based on the time data generated by said clock means, another partial section of the name is fixed as a code representing a digital still camera, and still another partial section of the name is denoted by a code representing a picture taken. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. An electronic still camera for storing image data in the form of image data files allocated in an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; recording means for recording image data on said storage device as a variable-length record; means responsive to a variable-length recording operation by said recording means for re-examining remaining areas of said storage device to determine portions of said storage device permitting storage of supplied image data; and alarm means for providing an alarm when said remaining area is insufficient for recording said supplied image data. - View Dependent Claims (34)
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35. An electronic still camera for taking pictures and for retrieving image data previously stored in an applied storage device, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; file forming means for providing a relational information file in which various information defining a relationship between a file and another file are described; and reproductive means for controlling a manner of one of simultaneous and successive reproduction for data of image files with reference to said relational information file.
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36. An electronic still camera for taking pictures and for retrieving image data previously stored in an applied storage device in the form of a file, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; successive reproduction executing means for successively reproducing stored data from said applied storage device; discriminating means for discriminating whether data of a file to be read from said applied storage device is image data by examining attribute information associated with said data to be read; and skipping means for skipping over a data file through said successive reproduction stage when said data intended for reproduction is non-image data based on discrimination of said discriminating means.
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37. An electronic still camera for taking pictures and for retrieving image data previously stored in an applied storage device in the form of a file, said still camera comprising:
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generating means for generating an analog image; conversion means for converting the analog image to a digital data representation thereof; storage means for storing said digital data representation; and an angle information storage means for storing an information representing a three-dimensional angle of the subject as seen from said electronic still camera while taking a photograph using said still camera.
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38. An electronic still camera for obtaining image data via an image pick-up device and an image data processing circuit connected to the image pick-up device, and for storing the image data in an applied storage device in the form of a file organized by a directory or a subdirectory supported by a disk operating system in a tree hierarchial structure, said still camera comprising:
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image file access means for selectively accessing a specific image file in said tree hierarchical structure; and switch means including a first switch for frame-up accessing and a second switch for frame-down accessing, both of said first and second switches being disposed in a predetermined portion of said camera body, for causing said file access means to access a selected file in said tree hierarchical structure by selectively traversing a branch of the tree hierarchical structure in one of an ascending or a descending direction. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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41. An electronic still camera for obtaining image data via an image pick-up device and an image data processing circuit connected to the image pick-up device, and for storing the image data in an applied storage device in the form of a file organized by a directory or a subdirectory supported by a disk operating system in a tree hierarchial structure, said still camera comprising:
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tree generating means for generating said tree hierarchical structure organizing said file; and switch means including a specific operation switch disposed on a predetermined portion of a camera body, for causing the tree hierarchical structure to be generated in a particular form. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43)
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Specification