JPH04170881A - Radio transmission equipment for image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To pickup an image without being restricted by means of the recording capacity of a memory card by providing a transmission equipment which can be inserted into the memory card slot of a digital still camera and to which a buffer memory is connected through a memory card interface. CONSTITUTION:Compressed image data compressed by an image compression circuit 14 is outputted to the buffer memory 12 of the card type transmission equipment 2 through the memory card interface (I/F) 14 since the transmission equipment 2 is mounted on the digital still camera 1. When a shutter is released by a release button 18, a current is oscillated form the output antenna 26 of the card type transmission equipment 2. Thus, the image can be picked up without being restricted by the number of image-pickup pieces in the memory card since data on the picked-up image can immediately be transmitted to the transmission equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention provides a method for transmitting compressed image data of still images captured by a digital still camera using a connection configuration between a digital still camera (DSVC) and a transmitting device. The present invention relates to a wireless transmission device for wirelessly transmitting images.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there is a digital still camera that converts a captured image into a digital signal and records it on a memory card. this is,
By inserting the memory card on which the image has been recorded into a playback device (player), the captured image can be viewed on a television or the like.

It is also used to import images into a computer and process them, or record them into a dynamic address converter (DAT) to create an image file.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The number of images that can be taken with a single memory card is limited by the storage capacity of the above-mentioned image memory card, and the number of images that can be taken with an 18-bit memory card is as low as about 12.

In addition, memory cards are expensive, and it is difficult and uneconomical to prepare the required number of memory cards.

In view of these points, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless image transmission device that allows viewing captured still images without being limited by the storage capacity of a memory card.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems and achieve the objects, the present invention provides a digital still camera that writes compressed image data and additional data of the images to a memory card, and a digital still camera that temporarily stores the data of the memory card. A buffer memory for storing data, an error correction circuit for correcting data errors caused by data transmission, a modulation circuit for modulating output data of the error correction circuit, an output circuit for amplifying the output of the modulation circuit to a predetermined level, and the output circuit. a transmitting device having an output antenna for radio wave transmission of the amplified output of the digital still camera, the transmitting device being insertable into a memory card slot of the digital still camera, and the buffer memory being a memory card interface of the digital still camera. It is characterized by being connected via.

(Function) According to the present invention, compressed image data captured by a digital still camera and additional data of the image are written to a memory card. Then, the compressed image data and the like are wirelessly transmitted by a transmitting device inserted into the memory card slot of the digital camera, and can be viewed on a television or the like. In this case, the information is transmitted wirelessly by the transmitting device at any time without being limited by the recording capacity of the memory card, so there is no need to prepare multiple memory cards, which is economical.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, l is a digital still camera (DSVC) as exemplified in FIG.
, image compression circuit 14 and memory card interface (
I/F) consists of 15. Reference numeral 2 denotes a card-type transmitter as illustrated in FIG. 2, which includes a buffer memory 21 for temporarily storing data, an error correction circuit 22 for correcting data errors caused by data transmission, and modulation of output data of the error correction circuit. an oscillation circuit 24 that oscillates a carrier wave of the modulation circuit, an output circuit 25 that amplifies the output of the modulation circuit to a predetermined level, an output antenna 26 that transmits the amplified output of the output circuit by radio wave, and It consists of a system controller 27 that performs sequence control of each circuit. Note that 28 is a channel changeover switch for preventing interference from a plurality of transmitting devices.

FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional perspective view showing a combination structure of a digital still camera and a transmitting device, and the digital still camera 1 has an existing memory card slot 16 on the side wall of the casing into which a memory card is inserted. In addition, the imaging lens 1
A strobe light emitting unit 17 is disposed on the side wall of the housing where the camera 1 is disposed, and a release button 18 for releasing the shutter is disposed on the upper surface of the housing so as to slightly protrude.

To operate the device of this embodiment, a card-type transmitting device 2 is inserted into the memory card slot 16 of the digital still camera l.
Insert. Thereby, the memory card interface (I/F) 15 of the digital still camera l and the buffer memory 21 of the transmitting device 2 are connected and coupled.

Now, the light of the image captured by the imaging lens 11 using the strobe light emitting unit 17 of the digital still camera 1 is focused on the imaging device 12, where it is converted into an electrical signal. Next A
A process circuit 13 including a /D converter (circuit) converts the data into a luminance signal and a color difference signal, and an image compression circuit 14 compresses the image data using a predetermined algorithm, such as ADCT (adaptive discrete cosine transform). Thereafter, header information such as date and imaging mode is added to the compressed image data to be written to the memory card (circuit). In this case, since the transmitting device is attached to a digital still camera, the signal is output to the buffer memory 21 of the card-type transmitting device 2 via the memory card interface (I/F) +5.

Here, the data to be transmitted is first stored in the buffer memory 21. Also, for example, in the case of an NTSC signal, this amount of data has an image compression rate of 1/16.
, it is about 400 Kbit.

Next, in order to prevent transmission errors caused by wireless transmission, an error correction circuit 22 performs error correction processing (for example, Hamming code). Next, the modulation circuit 23 modulates the digital data. At this time, a header code indicating transmission is added to the beginning of the transmission. Further, the carrier wave of this modulation is a specified frequency oscillated by the oscillation circuit 24.

Note that the digital data modulation in the modulation circuit 23 is PS
This is performed using a phase modulation method such as K (phase shift keying). Furthermore, the output of the modulation circuit 23 is output to the output circuit 2.
5 to a predetermined level and sent to the output antenna 26.
is supplied with power and transmitted as radio waves.

In the above operation, a series of sequences of the transmitting device 2 are performed by the system controller 27, and the channel changeover switch 28 is operated to prevent interference from a plurality of transmitting devices. Also, when the shutter is released with the release button 18, the output antenna 26 of the card-type transmitter 2 (
Radio waves are oscillated from the built-in device.

Therefore, the data of the image captured by the digital still camera 1 is immediately transmitted by the transmitting device 2, so the image can be captured without being limited by the number of captured images on the memory card, and can be viewed on a television or the like.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention is convenient because the data of images captured by a digital still camera can be immediately sent by the transmitting device, and images can be captured without being limited by the number of images captured by a memory card.

In addition, since it is a card-type transmitter with the same shape as a memory card, it can be used with various digital still cameras that have a memory card slot for inserting a memory card.The transmitter is not bulky and can be used as a regular digital still camera.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional perspective external side view showing a combined structure of a digital still camera and a transmitter. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Digital still camera, 2...Card type transmitter, 11...Imaging lens, 12...Image sensor, 13...Process circuit, 14...Image compression circuit, 15...・Memory card interface (I/
F), 16...Memory card slot, 17...
・Strobe light emitting part, 18・・Release button, 21・
...Buffer memory, 22...Error correction circuit,
23... Modulation circuit, 24... Oscillation circuit, 25.
...Output circuit, 26...Output antenna, 27...
- System controller, 28... selector switch. Patent applicant Rico Co., Ltd. −

Claims (1)

[Claims] A digital still camera that writes compressed image data and additional data of the image onto a memory card, a buffer memory that temporarily stores data on the memory card, an error correction circuit for correcting data errors caused by data transmission, and the error correction circuit. The transmitting device comprises a modulating circuit that modulates the output data of the modulating circuit, an output circuit that amplifies the output of the modulating circuit to a predetermined level, and a transmitting device having an output antenna for transmitting the amplified output of the output circuit by radio wave. 1. A wireless image transmission device, which is insertable into a memory card slot of the digital still camera, and wherein the buffer memory is connected via a memory card interface of the digital still camera.