JPH0784308A - Geographical information utilizing method and image recording system using geographical information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically record an image photographing location corresponding to an image when the image is recorded in a photographing device. CONSTITUTION:In an event place, in which a GPS receiver 14 and a relay station 16 are arranged, a radio wave from a satellite is always received by the GPS receiver 14, and geographical information is transmitted to the relay station 16, so that the geographical information is always transmitted by a small electric power transmitter 20 in the relay station 16. When a sight or a display is photographed by an optical camera 10 mounted with a receiver 22, a shutter button is operated. Linked with this, the receiver 22 inside the optical camera 10 receives the geographical information from the relay station 16 and outputs a signal so that numerical values equivalent to the received latitude and longitude information are indicated in a display device. Therefore, when a shutter is opened and the image (the sight or the display) is exposed in a negative film 26, the latitude and longitude information is printed in the base part of the circumferential edge of the image frame 26A (latent image) at the same time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for utilizing geographical information which utilizes geographical information and an image recording system which utilizes the geographical information which is utilized in a photographing device for photographing the geographical information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in an optical camera, information such as a photographing date and time and an exposure condition at the time of photographing can be automatically recorded on a negative film in accordance with the electronicization. There is. In particular, the shooting date and time are effectively used when the customer organizes the photos, and the exposure conditions are effectively used in the lab to create a print reprint under the same conditions as the first print when there is an order for reprint. To be done.

Here, for example, the date and time of a photograph taken at a travel destination can be easily recorded, but the shooting location at the travel destination cannot be easily recorded like the shooting date and time.

Therefore, unless the customer makes a note on the back of the photographic print or writes it in an album or the like containing the photographic print, it may be inconvenient when trying to organize the photographic prints for a while.

On the other hand, in a photographing device having a recording function such as a VTR camera, it is possible to record the place by voice at the time of photographing and, unlike the optical camera, photograph continuous scenes. Since it is often done, it is not possible to predict and confirm the shooting location from the surrounding scenery etc.
Easier than photo prints taken with an optical camera.
However, even with such a VTR camera, it often happens that it is difficult to specify the shooting location.

That is, regardless of whether it is an optical camera or a VTR camera, the shooting location is not important information for the customer, but the shooting location cannot be automatically recorded in the shooting device.

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention is capable of automatically recording the photographing location of the photographed image in correspondence with the image when recording the image in the photographing device and the geographical information. The purpose is to obtain an image recording system utilizing the.

[0008]

The invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that the geographical information of the photographing location of the image is recorded in correspondence with the image in a recording medium for recording the image.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the geographical information is latitude / longitude information which is recognized by receiving information sequentially transmitted by a GPS (Global Positioning System).

A recording medium according to claim 3 is loaded, a photographing device for recording an image on the recording medium, and geographical information fetching for fetching geographical information for specifying a photographing place of the image recorded on the recording medium. Means and geographic information recording means for recording the geographic information captured by the geographic information capturing means on a recording medium corresponding to the image.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 3, the geographic information is latitude and longitude information which is recognized by receiving information sequentially transmitted by GPS.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the invention according to the fourth aspect, the geographic information capturing device is a GP.
The S receiver, the transmitter for transmitting the information received by the GPS receiver, and the receiver for receiving the signal from the transmitter, which is provided in the imaging device, are featured.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 5, the transmitter and the receiver are low-power radio devices.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when an image is photographed and the image is recorded on the recording medium, the geographical information of the photographing location of the image is recorded in correspondence with the image. Immediately after shooting or in a short period of time, the photographer remembers the shooting location, and during that time, he / she can make a note on a label or the like attached to the magazine containing the recording medium, or on the back side of the recording medium, but for a long period of time. Or the person other than the photographer cannot specify the shooting location. In the present invention (Claim 1), geographical information can be recorded on a recording medium corresponding to an image, so that the photographing location can be recognized even after a long period of time, and anyone other than the photographer can easily recognize it. Can be recognized by
The recording media can be easily organized.

According to the second aspect of the invention, GPS (Global Positioning System) is applied as the geographical information.

As is well known, the GPS (Global Positioning System) receives constant orbit information, time, etc. transmitted from a plurality of satellites (generally four satellites), and obtains the time until this radio wave arrives. Then, by calculating the distance to each satellite, the current position of a moving body such as a vehicle can be obtained. Although it is not possible to receive satellite radio waves in the shade of a building or in a tunnel, errors do not accumulate as in dead reckoning, and it is extremely useful in recognizing a fixed position (shooting place) as in the present invention. It is possible to obtain accurate position information (geographic information).

Further, since photographing is completed in a very short time (especially, an optical camera), it is necessary to repeatedly provide geographical information within a few seconds including preparation for photographing. For this reason, it is preferable that the geographical information is a short information of several to several tens of bids, and that the geographical information is in a unified form. Also in this respect, the GPS is optimal.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the image is taken by the photographing device (optical camera, VTR camera or the like). At this time, the geographic information capturing means captures geographic information for specifying the shooting location of this image, and records it in a recording medium (photographic film, magnetic tape, etc.) on which the image is recorded by the geographic information recording means in correspondence with the image. .

For example, in the case of a photographic film, if the image is printed on the base portion of the periphery of the image frame, the shooting location can be specified by comparing the print with the photographic film. If the image frame can be imprinted as needed, the shooting location can be specified by viewing the print.

On the other hand, the magnetic tape may be recorded in a corner of the screen by superimposing the date (or time) depending on the photographer's choice, or the geographic information may be recorded each time the main switch is turned on. By doing so, the photographing is started after the geographical information is recorded in a small area immediately after the photographing is started, and the photographing place can be recognized without recording the geographical information in the screen. Depending on the model of the VTR camera, it is possible to select display or non-display of the date (or time) on the screen during playback (for example, Sony Corporation, TR-1000, etc.). If applied to information, geographical information can be displayed on the screen being reproduced as needed.

According to the invention described in claim 4, since the geographical information is recognized by the GPS, it is possible to obtain accurate geographical information as described in claim 2.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the geographic information capturing device for obtaining the geographic information by GPS has a GPS receiver for receiving radio waves from a satellite and the geographic information from the GPS reception to the photographing device. A propagating transmitter and receiver.

That is, it is possible to directly attach the GPS receiver to the photographing device, but it is difficult to realize it at present because the antenna is special and the photographing device becomes large. Also, the need to recognize the shooting location,
Most of the tourist spots and event venues do not need to be equipped with a GPS receiver for each image capturing device.

Therefore, a GPS receiver is permanently installed (or temporarily installed) on the side of a tourist spot or an event site, and transmission / reception for transmitting geographical information over a short distance between the GPS receiver and the photographing device is interposed. That is, if a transmitter is attached to the GPS receiver side and a receiver is attached to the photographing device side, geographical information can be obtained by the receiver when photographing at a tourist site or an event site.

According to the invention described in claim 6, a small low-power radio can be applied as the transceiver. The radio frequency of this radio is generally assigned by the administration, and in Japan, there is a frequency band that can be used without a license under the transmission power limit of 10 mW or less in the 400 MHz band.

If this frequency band is used, hundreds of meters to several km
Since radio waves can be transmitted and received within the range of, by installing relay transceivers at appropriate intervals at tourist sites and event venues
It becomes possible to transmit to the photographing device.

[0027]

FIG. 1 shows the outline of an image recording system according to this embodiment.

A GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 14 is installed in an event hall or the like where people having the optical camera 10 and the VTR camera 12 concentrate.

The GPS receiver 14 is mounted on a vehicle or the like so that it can be moved to a temporary place such as an event site for a certain period. In addition, if it is a place like a resort, it may be permanently installed.

The GPS receiver 14 receives radio waves from a plurality of satellites orbiting the earth (generally four satellites) and can always receive geographical information such as orbit information and time. G
The PS receiver 14 can obtain the current position by obtaining the time until the radio wave arrives and then calculating the distance to each satellite. Further, the transmission is always transmitted in a short period of time and is performed in a unified form.

The geographical information received by the GPS receiver 14 is converted into, for example, latitude / longitude information, and the main transmitter (not shown) installed in the GPS receiver 14 causes each part of the event site to be in units of 100 m. It is adapted to be transmitted to the installed relay station 16.

The relay station 16 includes a receiver 18 and a transmitter 20, and can receive the radio waves transmitted from the main transmitter of the GPS receiver 14. In addition, this GPS
The receiver 14 and the relay station 16 may be connected by wire.

On the other hand, the transmitter 20 of the relay station is a low-power radio transmitter, and, for example, in Japan, it is 1 in the 400 MHz band.
It is transmitted at 0 mW. Corresponding to the low power wireless transmitter 20, the optical camera 10 and the VTR camera 12 have a low power wireless receiver 22 built therein.
Since the receiver 22 applied to the low-power radio is small and inexpensive, the external dimensions do not become extremely large even when mounted on the optical camera 10 or the VTR camera 12.

Since the relay station 16 is installed in units of 100 m at the event site, the optical camera 10 and the VTR camera 12 equipped with the receiver 22 can be installed from the relay station 16 at any place in the event site. It becomes possible to receive radio waves.

As shown in FIG. 2, a negative film 26 accommodated in a cartridge 24 is loaded in the optical camera 10, and when the shutter button 28 is operated, the shutter 32 is opened by the control unit 30. Then, the rectangular hole 36 provided in the shutter base 34 is opened, and the subject is exposed to the negative film 26 through the lens 38. Here, the receiver 22 is connected to the control unit 30, and the shutter button 28
The geographical information (latitude / longitude information) received by the receiver 22 is output to the display device 40 in conjunction with the operation of.

The display device 40 includes the shutter base 3
It is attached so as to correspond to the burn-in window 42 provided at the peripheral edge of the rectangular hole 36 of No. 4. The display device 40 includes an LED and a 7-segment liquid crystal shutter (both not shown), displays the latitude and longitude according to a signal from the control unit 30, and displays the image frame 26A of the negative film 26. It can be burnt into the periphery. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when "N35 ° 20E140 ° 10" is displayed, north latitude 35 ° 20 ', east longitude 140 °
Represents 10 '.

The VTR camera 12 is a magnetic tape wound on a reel in a cassette and magnetically records geographical information (latitude / longitude information) received by the receiver 22. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the magnetic tape is loaded on the deck 44, and the monitor 46
By displaying by, the geographical information can be displayed together with the image. This recording may be overlapped on the screen, or may be recorded for several seconds each time the main switch of the VTR camera 12 is turned on and recorded on a magnetic tape in a short area before the start of photographing.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. GP
At the event site where the S receiver 14 and the relay station 16 are installed, the GPS receiver 14 constantly receives radio waves from satellites and transmits geographical information to the relay station 16. The power transmitter 20 constantly transmits geographical information.

When the optical camera 10 or the VTR camera 12 equipped with the receiver 22 is brought to this event site, and when, for example, a landscape or an exhibit is photographed by the optical camera 10, the shutter button 28 is operated.

Interlocked with the operation of the shutter button 28, for example, the receiver 22 in the optical camera 10 receives the geographical information from the relay station 16 and displays the numerical value corresponding to the latitude / longitude information received by the display device 40. Output signal as displayed.

Therefore, the shutter 32 is opened, the image (landscape or exhibit) is exposed on the negative film 26, and at the same time, the latitude and longitude information is imprinted on the peripheral base portion of the image frame 26A (latent image). (See FIG. 1).

Here, when the photographed negative film 26 is requested to be printed at a laboratory or the like, it is developed in a form in which the latitude and longitude information is displayed for each image frame on the negative film 26.

When the customer arranges the photographic prints, by collating the photographic prints with the negative film 26, the geographical information can be easily obtained and the photographing place can be recognized.

That is, immediately after taking a picture or in a short period of time, I remember the shooting place, but after a long period of time,
Sometimes I didn't know where to shoot. However, in this embodiment, since the photographing location can be easily recognized by collating with the negative film 26, the arrangement becomes easy.

In this embodiment, the latitude / longitude information is printed outside the image frame 26A of the negative film 26. However, if the customer selects the latitude / longitude information, the latitude / longitude information may be printed in the image frame. , You can grasp the shooting location just by looking at the photo print.

On the other hand, since the VTR camera 12 uses the magnetic tape, the geographical information received by the receiver 22 built in the VTR camera 12 is magnetically recorded.
In general, the shooting date, time, etc. are displayed overlapping (superimposing) on the shooting screen. Therefore, even in this geographical information, it may be overlapped on the shooting screen according to the photographer's selection. . Further, the shooting location may be recorded at the boundary of the image. In this case, V
Each time the main switch of the TR camera 12 is turned on, a recording state is set for a few seconds, and if the geographic information is magnetically recorded during this time, the geographic information is displayed first as in the title screen.
After that, since the landscape of the shooting location is displayed, the shooting location can be easily grasped.

In this embodiment, the latitude / longitude information is applied as the geographic information, but other geographic information may be used.
For example, if the geographic information transmitted from the main transmitter of the GPS receiver 14 is a place name (eg, Hakone, Sengokuhara Wet Garden) and the display device 40 in the optical camera 10 is a liquid crystal shutter with a dot pattern, latitude and longitude It is not necessary to search the place name from the information using a map or the like. Further, a postal code can be applied as an intermediate between the place name and the latitude / longitude information.

Further, in this embodiment, the GPS receiver 14 is used to identify the location by the radio wave from the satellite. However, in the permanent area, the same information as the GPS format may be transmitted independently. .

Further, in the present invention, the optical camera 10 and the VTR camera 12 are provided as the currently feasible embodiments.
Although it has been shown that the small and inexpensive low power receiver 22 is mounted, it is within the scope of the present invention to directly mount the GPS receiver on the optical camera or the VTR camera.

Further, in displaying the geographical information on the optical camera 10 in the present embodiment, the contents displayed on the negative film 26 or the contents displayed on the screen of the photographic print are to be seen. 26 and the photographic print are often stored in a different place, and when displayed directly on the photographic print, a part of the screen may be difficult to see.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the photographic print 50 is returned to the customer in a state of being accommodated in the file 52, and the photographic print 50 is individually accommodated in a position corresponding to the photographic print of the transparent bag 52A. (A position or B position in FIG. 3), together with the geographical information, the exposure conditions at the time of shooting,
By printing the information such as the frame number and the shooting date, there is no problem that a part of the photographic print 50 is difficult to see due to the information.

By creating the return file 52 as described below or when creating a print, the workability is good and the file can be made at a low cost.

In the case of a file in the form of a clear pocket, it is printed on a clear film at an adjacent position without overlapping the print.

The print is positioned on the mount, and a transparent sheet is formed in a pocket shape or laminated on the mount, and printing is performed on the mount close to the print.

Further, in order to print on the file 52 in this way, a bar code or the like may be optically burned in as in the conventional case, or a strip-shaped magnetic material may be coated on the negative film, It may be recorded as magnetic information at the time of photographing and read by a laboratory or the like.

[0056]

As described above, the geographical information utilizing method and the image recording system utilizing the geographical information according to the present invention,
This has an excellent effect that, when an image is recorded in the photographing device, the photographing place of the photographed image can be automatically recorded corresponding to the image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image recording system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the inside of the optical camera.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a file containing photographic prints and having information recorded therein.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 optical camera (imaging device) 12 VTR camera (imaging device) 14 GPS receiver (geographical information capturing means) 16 relay station (geographical information capturing means) 22 receiver (geographical information capturing means) 30 control unit (geographical information recording means) ) 40 display device (geographical information recording means)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for utilizing geographic information, characterized in that geographic information of a shooting location of the image is recorded on a recording medium for recording the image in association with the image. 2. The method for utilizing geographical information according to claim 1, wherein the geographical information is latitude / longitude information recognized by receiving information sequentially transmitted by GPS (Global Positioning System). 3. A recording medium is loaded, a photographing device for recording an image on the recording medium, geographic information capturing means for capturing geographic information for identifying a photographing location of the image recorded on the recording medium, and A geographic information recording unit that records the geographic information captured by the geographic information capturing unit in a recording medium corresponding to the image, and an image recording system using the geographic information. 4. The image recording system using geographical information according to claim 3, wherein the geographical information is latitude and longitude information recognized by receiving information sequentially transmitted by GPS. 5. The geographical information capturing device includes a GPS receiver, a transmitter for transmitting information received by the GPS receiver, and a receiver provided in the image capturing device for receiving a signal from the transmitter. The image recording system using geographical information according to claim 4, characterized in that 6. The image recording system using geographical information according to claim 5, wherein the transmitter and the receiver are low-power wireless devices.