Shooting equipment communicating system

• US 7,453,491 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2003
• Issued: 11/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kinjo, Naoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Ometz; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bemben; Richard M
• Application Number:
  US10/401,706
• Publication Number:
  US 20030184654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,059 Days
• Field of Search: 348/118, 348/148, 348/207.99, 348/207.1, 348/207.11, 348/837
• US Class Current: 348/118
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00106 using land mobile radio networks, e.g. mobile telephone

Abstract

The shooting equipment communicating system includes portable shooting equipment and mobile communications equipment which are moved together and communicate with each other. The mobile communications equipment includes a database section for storing map data, location information about regions and sites included in a map and region-/site-related information identified by the location information, and a retrieving section for retrieving the relevant region-/site-related information depending on the input location information, and transmits the retrieved region-/site-related information to the portable shooting equipment. The portable shooting equipment includes a shooting section for performing photography shooting of a subject and a storage section for receiving and storing the retrieved region-/site-related information.

Claims

1. A shooting equipment communicating system including portable shooting equipment and mobile communications equipment which is moved together with the portable shooting equipment and communicates with said portable shooting equipment, wherein:

said mobile communications equipment comprises;

a database section for storing map data, location information about regions and sites included in a map represented by the map data, and region-/site-related information comprising descriptive information about the regions and the sites identified by the location information, the region-/site-related information being other than the map data and the location information; and

a retrieving section for retrieving the relevant region-/site-related information from the database section depending on the input location information; and

transmits the region-/site-related information retrieved by the retrieving section to said portable shooting equipment; and

said portable shooting equipment comprises a shooting section for performing photography shooting of a subject and a storage section for receiving and storing the region-/site-related information retrieved by said retrieving section; and

said shooting section has a display for displaying at least one of the subject taken and information selected from the region-/site-related information stored in said storage section; and

wherein the retrieving section retrieves the relevant region-/site-related information in order of importance; and

wherein the database section stores the region-/site-related information in a hierarchical structure of ranks of importance.

2. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein:

said portable shooting equipment further comprises a position information acquiring section for acquiring information on a current position and transmits acquired position information at least as shooting information to said mobile communications equipment when the photography shooting is performed with said shooting section; and

said mobile communications equipment further comprises a processor section for identifying a shooting site on the photography shooting with said shooting section by using said shooting information received and said map data and inputting the shooting site as said location information to said retrieving section, wherein said retrieving section retrieves the region-/site-related information from said database section depending on the location information about said shooting site input from the processor section and transmits the region-/site-related information about said shooting site retrieved to said portable shooting equipment.

3. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said portable shooting equipment transmits data on pictures taken by said shooting section to said mobile communications equipment, and

said mobile communications equipment stores in said database section data on pictures of a subject of shooting previously photographed from a specified site as registered picture data in association with said location information, identifies the shooting site and the subject of shooting on the photography shooting with said shooting section by comparing said data on pictures taken with said registered picture data, retrieves on said retrieving section the region-/site-related information about the identified shooting site and subject of shooting, and transmits the information retrieved to said portable shooting equipment.

4. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile communications equipment communicates with an external server,

said region-/site-related information is product information in said region or at said site, said mobile communications equipment transmits product order input data to said portable shooting equipment together with said product information, and

on completion of the product order input data received, said portable shooting equipment returns the product order input data to said mobile communications equipment, and said mobile communications equipment transfers the completed product order input data to said external server.

5. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 4, wherein said mobile communications equipment further comprises a storage section,

said portable shooting equipment transmits said data on pictures taken by said shooting section or said completed product order input data to said mobile communications equipment, and

said mobile communications equipment stores said data on pictures taken by said shooting section or said completed product order input data in said storage section.

6. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 5, wherein said mobile communications equipment, transfers said data on pictures or said completed product order input data stored in said storage section to said external server.

7. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile communications equipment communicates with an external server comprising an external database section and performs addition to, or deletion of, or update of said region-/site-related information stored in said database section, based on information contained in said external database section that is transmitted from the external server.

8. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile communications equipment is car-mounted communications equipment or portable communications equipment which is capable of communicating with said portable shooting equipment.

9. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 8, wherein said car-mounted communications equipment is a car navigation device and said portable communications equipment is a cell phone, hand-held computer or PDA (personal digital assistant) with a navigation function.

10. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said portable shooting equipment is adapted for a short-distance communication with said mobile communications equipment.

11. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said portable shooting equipment is moved together with said mobile communications equipment or moved as being kept within a range in which the short-distance communication with said mobile communications equipment is feasible.

12. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said portable shooting equipment further comprises a first storage control section for controlling said storage section such that contents information, which is stored in the database section of said mobile communications equipment or acquired by said mobile communications equipment from the external server through communication, is received from said mobile communications equipment and stored in said storage section depending on a storage capacity of said storage section and that said contents information stored in said storage section depending on the storage capacity of said storage section is deleted or compressed at a high compression ratio to store over again as said photography shooting of a subject with said shooting section of said portable shooting equipment proceeds, so that a free space for storing data on taken pictures, which is acquired by performing said photography shooting of a subject, is provided.

13. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 12, wherein said first storage control section controls said storage section such that said data on taken pictures stored in said storage section is deleted or compressed at high compression ratio to store over again after being transmitted to said mobile communications equipment so as to store new contents information in said storage section.

14. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile communications equipment further comprises a second storage control section for controlling said database section such that contents information acquired from an external server through communication is stored in said database section depending on a storage capacity of said database section and that said contents information stored in said database section depending on the storage capacity of said database section is deleted or compressed at a high compression ratio to store over again as said mobile communications equipment is moved, so that a free space for storing data on taken pictures received from said portable shooting equipment and/or contents information received from the external server is provided.

15. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 14, wherein said second storage control section controls said database section such that said data on taken pictures stored in said database section is deleted or compressed at high compression ratio to store over again after being transmitted to the external server so as to store new contents information in said database section.

16. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein said region-/site-related information comprises descriptive information about natural objects, buildings, sightseeing places and events in the regions and sites identified by the location information.

17. The shooting equipment communicating system according to claim 1, wherein the database section and the retrieving section are integrally combined in said mobile communications equipment.