Image pickup apparatus

• US 7,405,754 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2003
• Issued: 07/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Inoue, Masashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Ye; Lin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Whipkey; Jason
• Application Number:
  US10/732,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20040119837A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: 348/231.2, 348/207.99, 704/231, 704/251, 704/270, 704/275
• US Class Current: 348/231.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00326 with a data reading, recognizing or recording apparatus, e.g. with a bar-code apparatus arrangements for the associated working of recording or reproducing apparatus with related apparatus G11B31/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2112 using still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus captures an image of an object through an image pickup lens by an image pickup element according to an image pickup operation, generates image data, and records the image data in a recording section. The apparatus includes a microphone that collects speech of a person who takes images, a speech recognition section that recognizes speech output from the microphone and outputs a character code, and an image signal processing section that decides whether a folder having a name code corresponding to the character string code exists in the recording section or not based on the character string code output from the speech recognition section and performs processing of recording the image data in the folder when the character string code matches the name code.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus comprising:

an image pickup element that generates image data according to an image pickup operation, by capturing incident light from an object through an image pickup lens;

a recording section that records the image data;

a microphone that collects speech of a person who picks up images and outputs a speech signal, wherein the speech includes a keyword representing the content of an image;

a speech recognition section that recognizes the speech signal output from the microphone and outputs a character string code; and

an image signal processing section that

decides, after the image is obtained by the image pickup element, whether a folder having a name code corresponding to the character string code exists in the recording section or not based on the character string code output from the speech recognition section and

performs processing of recording image data representing the image in the folder when the character string code matches the name code.

2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when it is decided that no folder having the name code corresponding to the character string code exists in the recording section, the image signal processing section creates a new folder having the name code corresponding to the character string code and then performs processing of recording the image data in the created folder.

3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the microphone, the speech recognition section, and the image signal processing section are integrally connected within a single container.

4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image pickup apparatus is a digital camera.

5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the speech recognition section recognizes a speech trigger command from the speech collected by the microphone, and

wherein the image signal processing section initiates the image pickup operation when the speech trigger command is recognized by the speech recognition section.

6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the speech recognition section recognizes the speech trigger command when the person selects a speech control image operation mode of the image pickup apparatus.

7. A method to capture and store image data, comprising:

generating the image data by capturing an image of an object;

collecting a speech of a person initiating the image capture, wherein the speech includes a keyword representing the content of the image;

generating a character string code representing the speech of the user;

determining whether a folder having a name code corresponding to the character string code exists in a recording medium; and

storing the image data in the corresponding folder of the recording medium when it is determined that the corresponding folder exists in the recording medium.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

creating the corresponding folder in the recording medium when it is determined that the corresponding folder does not exist in the recording medium; and

storing the image data in the created corresponding folder of the recording medium.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

determining whether the person provided a speech trigger command,

wherein the step of generating the image data by capturing the image of the object is performed when it is determined that the person provided the speech trigger command.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

determining whether an image pickup apparatus used by the person initiating the image capture is in a speech control image operation mode,

wherein the step of determining whether the person provided the speech trigger command is performed when it is determined that the image pickup apparatus is in the speech control image operation mode.

11. The method according to claim 7,

wherein the step of generating the image data is performed using an image pickup element,

wherein the step of collecting the speech of the person initiating the image capture is performed using a microphone,

wherein the step of generating the character string code is performed using a speech recognition section,

wherein the step of determining whether the folder having the name code corresponding to the character string code exists in the recording medium and the step of storing the image data in the recording medium are performed using an image signal processing section, and

wherein the image pickup element, the microphone, the speech recognition section, and the image signal processing section are integrally connected within a single image pickup apparatus container.

12. A digital camera, comprising:

an imaging section configured to image an object to generate image data of the object;

a speech recognition section configured to recognize speech of a person and to generate a character string code representing the speech of the person, wherein the speech includes a keyword representing the content of the image data;

a processing section configured to generate processed image data by processing the image data generated by the imaging section and to control operations of the digital camera; and

a recording section configured to read and write the processed image data from and to a removable recording medium,

wherein the processing section determines whether a folder corresponding to the character string code generated by the speech recognition section exists in the removable recording medium, controls the recording section to store the processed image data in the folder when it is determined that the folder already exists in the removable recording medium, and controls the recording section to create the folder in the removable recording medium prior to controlling the recording section to store the processed image data in the folder when it is determined that the folder does not already exist in the removable recording medium.

13. The digital camera of claim 12,

wherein the speech recognition section recognizes a speech trigger command from the person, and

wherein the processing section controls the imaging section to image the object and to generate image data of the object upon recognition of the speech trigger command by the speech recognition section.

14. The digital camera of claim 13, further comprising:

a mode selection device configured to allow the person to choose between a normal photographing operation mode and a speech control image operation mode,

wherein the speech recognition section is configured to recognize the speech trigger command when the person chooses the speech control image operation mode through the mode selection device.

15. The digital camera of claim 12, further comprising:

an internal RAM configured to store the image data generated by the imaging section,

wherein the processing section generates the processed image data by processing the image data stored within the internal RAM.

16. The digital camera of claim 12, further comprising:

an internal ROM configured to store a program,

wherein the processing section generates the processed image data and controls the operations of the digital camera based on the program stored in the internal ROM.