Multi-picture control circuit and method for electronic still camera

In a multi-picture control circuit for an electronic still camera which digitizes, stores a video signal representative of a plurality of pictures in a main memory and displays the stored video signal in correspondence with selected ones of said pictures on a screen, said multi-picture control circuit comprising:

• a picture selector for, during a selection mode, enabling a user to make picture selection among said plurality of pictures to be displayed on said screen of said electronic still camera;
• a microcomputer;
• and
• a multi-picture controller comprising separate and successively arranged one-picture, two-picture, three-picture, four-picture and up to N-picture address generators for, during said selection mode, generating read addresses of one of a selected single picture and selected different multiple ones of said plurality of pictures stored in said main memory under control of said microcomputer to retrieve picture data stored in said main memory representing one of said selected single picture and said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures into a reproducing buffer memory for a subsequent visual display on said screen of said electronic still camera, said selected multiple ones of said plurality of pictures representing a combination of either two selected pictures, three selected pictures, four selected pictures, or up to N selected pictures to be simultaneously displayed on said screen of said electronic still camera, wherein N represents an integer greater than four, and said multi-picture controller controlling said visual display of one of said selected single picture and said selected different multiple ones of said plurality of pictures stored in said main memory on said screen of said electronic still camera by:
• operating in a normal mode when said selection mode has not been selected by the user, and interrupting an output from said reproducing buffer memory to said screen of said electronic still camera for a visual display when said selection mode has been selected by the user;
• reading said picture data from said main memory and writing said picture data read from said main memory into said reproducing buffer memory in response to an instruction from said picture selector;
• resuming the output from said reproducing buffer memory to said screen of said electronic still camera for said visual display upon completion of the writing of said picture data into said reproducing buffer memory;
• waiting for a next instruction from said picture selector after providing said visual display of the output of said reproducing buffer memory on said screen of said electronic still camera;
• and
• erasing a currently displayed picture or different multiple ones of said plurality of pictures on said screen of said electronic still camera upon receipt of a completion signal, and returning to said normal mode.

A multi-picture control circuit in a camera for displaying, one or more pictures on a screen simultaneously, said multi-picture control circuit comprising:

• main memory means for storing picture data representing a plurality of pictures in pages;
• picture selection means for generating a picture control signal for making selection of one of a single picture and different ones of said plurality of pictures to be displayed on said screen of said camera;
• reproducing buffer memory means for storing selected picture data reproduced from said main memory means representing one of a selected single picture and selected different ones of said plurality of pictures, said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures representing either two selected pictures, three selected pictures, four selected pictures, or up to N selected pictures to be simultaneously displayed on said screen, wherein said N represents an integer greater than four;
• processing means for generating a processing control signal for controlling operation of said multi-picture control circuit;
• and
• multi-picture controlling means comprising separate and successively arranged one-picture, two-picture, three-picture, four-picture and up to N-picture address generators responsive to said processing control signal, for generating read addresses corresponding to one of said selected single picture and said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures representing either two selected pictures, three selected pictures, four selected pictures, or up to N selected pictures stored in said main memory means to retrieve said selected picture data representing one of said selected single picture and said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures into said reproducing buffer memory means for a subsequent visual display on said screen of said camera.

An electronic picture-taking method, comprising:

• storing in a main memory a plurality of pictures taken by an electronic picture-taking device;
• storing a reproducing buffer memory picture data corresponding to one of a selected single picture and selected different ones of said plurality of pictures reproduced from said main memory;
• generating picture addresses with a multi-picture controller comprising separate and successively arranged one-picture, two-picture, three-picture, four-picture and up to N-picture address generators generating said picture addresses of one of said selected single picture and said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures stored in said main memory to be reproduced into said reproducing buffer memory for a subsequent visual display on a screen of the electronic picture-taking device;
• and
• controlling said visual display of one of said selected single picture and said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures by the steps of:
• operating in a normal mode, when a selection mode has not been selected by a user, and interrupting transmission of picture data from said reproducing buffer memory to said screen of said electronic picture-taking device for a visual display, when said selection mode has been selected by said user;
• reading said picture data corresponding to one of said selected single picture and said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures from said main memory to be displayed on said screen of said electronic picture-taking device, and writing said picture data into said reproducing buffer memory, said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures representing either two selected pictures, three selected pictures, four selected pictures, or up to N selected pictures to be simultaneously displayed on said screen of said electronic picture-taking device, wherein said N represents an integer greater than four;
• resuming the transmission of said picture data from said reproducing buffer memory to said screen of said electronic picture-taking device for said visual display of said picture data corresponding to one of said selected single picture and said selected different ones of said plurality of pictures on said screen after the completion of writing said picture data from said main memory into said reproducing buffer memory;
• and
• erasing a currently displayed single picture or different ones of said plurality of pictures on said screen of said electronic picture-taking device upon receipt of a completion signal, and returning to said normal mode.

A camera, comprising:

• a main memory comprising a plurality of pages each storing picture data representative of a corresponding one of a plurality of pictures;
• picture selector means for enabling a user to select one of a single selected picture and different plurality of selected pictures among said plurality of pictures stored in said main memory, to be displayed on a screen of said camera;
• a buffer memory for temporarily storing picture data in correspondence with either one of said single selected picture and said different plurality of selected pictures, read from said main memory, for a visual display on said screen of said camera;
• processor means for generating page addresses to identify the pages within said main memory storing said picture data in correspondence with one of said single selected picture and said different plurality of selected pictures;
• and
• multi-picture controller means having a plurality of picture address generators for generating picture addresses corresponding to said page addresses to retrieve said picture data of one of said single selected picture and said different plurality of selected pictures from said main memory into said buffer memory, said multi-picture controller means further generating buffer addresses for reading said picture data of one of said single selected picture and said different plurality of selected pictures temporarily stored in said buffer memory for a visual display on said screen of said camera, said plurality of picture address generators respectively representing a one-picture address generator for generating said picture addresses of said single selected picture to be displayed on said screen, a two-picture address generator for generating said picture addresses of two selected pictures to be simultaneously displayed on said screen, a three-picture address generator for generating said picture addresses of three selected pictures to be simultaneously displayed on said screen, a four-picture address generator for generating said picture addresses of four selected pictures to be simultaneously displayed on said screen, and up to a N-picture address generator for generating said picture addresses of N-pictures to be simultaneously displayed on said screen, wherein N represents an integer greater than four.