Patent Abstract:
A method and apparatus for generating frames and sound effects of digital cameras by using computer-compatible files is described. By using the same, digital cameras will play the frames and sound effects selected by users when turned on or off, standing by and entering selection lists. The image files and the sound-effect files played by the digital cameras have the same formats as computer files, which effectively increases the compatibility and expandability of the digital cameras so as to provide more perfect and interesting functions to the users.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention provides a method and apparatus for generating frames and sound effects for digital cameras by using computer-compatible files, and particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing image files and sound-effect files compatible with computers so that the users can select and set the frames and sound effects to be played when the digital cameras are turned on, turned off, standing by or entering selection lists.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     As the digital era is coming and the relevant hardware and software technology is being vigorously developed, various digital devices are more popular and commonly used in daily life. In addition to the demand of being small in volume, light in weight and cheap, digital devices must also have more powerful and complete application functions, providing users with more pleasures. In order to meet the various demands from the market, manufactures are struggling to develop new products with the most advanced and appealing functions. Therefore, various digital devices with different uses are popular and common in the everyday life.  
         [0005]     The digital still camera is one of the most popular digital products. The main difference between the digital camera and the traditional camera is that images taken by the digital camera are easily edited. In the digital camera, software used to compose, modify or delete the pictures, providing practicability and convenience. Therefore, the popularity of the digital camera is greatly increased, and even professional photographers are gradually beginning to use digital cameras. Furthermore, the digital cameras are provided with powerful additional functions, providing users with more pleasure and entertainment.  
         [0006]     In the present market, liquid crystal screens are installed on the available digital cameras for showing the size, distance, brightness and resolution of the photographic subject to a user, which provides practicability and convenience. However, with regard to entertainment, there is much room for advancement.  
         [0007]     For example, in the common digital cameras, the frames for starting or shutting-down are built-in, and therefore, the frames for starting or shutting-down displayed on the liquid crystal screens are fixed, which provides no options for a user to select a favorite frame or sound effects to be played when the digital cameras are turned on or off. Apparently, it is dull for the users, and it is because the file formats to be processed by the digital cameras are limited and the digital cameras cannot process the sub-filename compatible with the computer format, making the digital cameras lack expandability.  
         [0008]     In the prior art, mobile phone manufactures provide a method for displaying frames for turning a mobile phone on or off. However, the method applied in the mobile phone is deficient. For example, the image file with high number of pixels cannot be completely stored in the mobile phone as a screen background, and even if the image file can be used, a cutting edge appears due to the different resolutions. More importantly, the sound-effect device of the present mobile phone only can play back MIDI files (music files), and does not support WAV files (sound-effect files), MP3 files and AVI files (audio-video-interleaved files). Accordingly, the mobile phones cannot process the sub-filename compatible with the computer format, which creates inconvenience for users when using mobile phones.  
         [0009]     Therefore, in order to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art digital cameras, which cannot process computer-compatible files, the present invention relates a method and apparatus for generating frames and sound effects of digital cameras by using computer-compatible files so as to provide the user with more convenience and entertainment.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     The present invention provides a method and apparatus for generating frames and sound effects of digital cameras by using computer-compatible files. By providing computer-compatible image files and sound effect files, a user can select and set the frames and sound effects to be played when a digital camera is turned on or off, standing by or entering selection lists. The method comprises the steps of a) reading at least one data file of at least one external device; b) storing the data file in the data storage area; c) compressing the data file; and d) storing the data file in a specified position of the memory unit so that the data file being used when the digital camera is turned on or off, standing by or entering a selection list. Accordingly, the compatibility and expandability of the digital camera will be effectively increased so as to provide greater pleasure to the user. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of the specification in which like numerals designate like parts, illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective diagram of a digital camera according to the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the inside circuit of the digital camera according to the present invention; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of a method according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]     The present invention relates to a digital camera capable of processing the computer-compatible file formats so that the digital camera can play back the user&#39;s favorite frames and sound effects when turned on or off, standing by, and entering the selection list. Reference is made to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a perspective diagram of a digital camera  100  according to the present invention. The digital camera  100  uses an image input unit  10  for accessing the external image signals and then forming a photographic image on a display unit  20 .  
         [0016]     The data file composed of the image signals can be transmitted to an external storage device, such as a computer  40 , via a connecting interface  30  and a connecting line  35 . The computer  40  has the function of editing the data file, and therefore, the user can edit or modify the pictures. When the computer  40  is not available, the data files can be temporarily stored in an external memory card  50  (or a built-in one). Then, when the computer  40  is available, the data files temporarily stored in the memory card will be transmitted to the computer  40  for storage.  
         [0017]     Similarly, the computer  40  and the memory card  50  also can transmit the edited or stored data files to a memory unit inside the digital camera  100  for storage. Therefore, the display unit  20  can play back the data file edited by the user when the digital camera  100  is turned on or off, standing by, or entering the selection list.  
         [0018]     For example, the data file transmitted from the computer  40  or the memory card  50  can be an image file or a sound-effect file. The data file will be compressed and decompressed in the file format compatible with the computer  40 , and then be stored in the memory unit of the digital camera  100  (the details will be described later) so as to be played back when the digital camera  100  is turned on or off, standing by and entering the selection list. Therefore, the cutting edge or the improper resolution will not appear when the digital camera  100  plays back the read image file on the display unit  20 . This is because the digital camera  100  uses the compression technology compatible with the file format of computer  40 . In contrast, the prior art can only use the specific file format incompatible with the computer.  
         [0019]     Furthermore, the sub-filenames of the image file and the sound-effect file use file formats compatible with the computer  40 . The image file can be a dot matrix image file, and the sub-filename of the dot matrix image file can be the commonly used JPG file, GIF file or BMP file. The sound-effect file can be a WAV file or a MIDI file. However, in practical application, the used sub-filename must match the design of the actual device, and is not limited to the disclosed embodiment. For example, the image file can further comprise an animation file, which may be an AVI file or a MPEG file.  
         [0020]     Reference is made to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the inside circuit of the digital camera  100  according to the present invention. The controlling unit  130  is connected to the image input unit  110  and the connecting interface  120  for reading the image signals accessed by the image input unit  110 , or is connected to an external device (such as a computer  40  or a memory card  50 ) via a connecting interface  120  for decompressing the data file transmitted from the external device so that the digital camera  100  can play back the data file. Then, the data file is transmitted to a memory unit  140  for storage.  
         [0021]     The memory unit  140  further comprises a data storage area  146 , a sound-effect storage area  144  and a frame storage area  142 . First, the controlling unit  144  stores the data file in the data storage area  146 . At this time, the user can use an output unit  150  to preview the data file as to determine whether the data file is the file required by the user. If the data file is not the file required by the user, then the data files of the external device and the image input unit  110  are re-read until the data file is the file required by the user. If the data file is the file required by the user, then the data file is edited to the length or size required by the user so as to prevent the file from having too much content. Then, the portion relating to the image file in the data file is transmitted to the frame storage area  142  for storage, and the portion relating to the sound-effect file is transmitted to the sound-effect storage area  144  for storage.  
         [0022]     Each of the frame storage area  142  and the sound-effect storage area  144  comprises a starting data area, a shutting-down data area, a standing-by data area and a selection-list data area (not shown) for storage the user&#39;s favorite image files and sound-effect files. Therefore, the digital camera  100  will play back these files when it is turned on or off, standing by and entering the selection list. The starting data area in the frame storage area  142  is used for storing the image file to be played back by display unit  153  in the output unit  150  when the digital camera  100  is starting. Similarly, the shutting-down, standing-by and selection-list data areas are separately used for storing the image file to be played back by the display unit  153  when the digital camera  100  is turned off, standing by and entering the selection list. Accordingly, the digital camera will play back the images or animation selected and set by the user.  
         [0023]     Similarly, the turn on and off, standby and selection-list data areas in the sound-effect storage area  144  are separately used for storing the sound-effect files to be played back by the sound-effect output unit  157  in the output unit  150  when the digital camera  100  is turned on or off, standing by and entering the selection list. This provides the user with more pleasure when using the digital camera  100 .  
         [0024]     Reference is made to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a flowchart of a method according to the present invention. First, the data file in the external device data file is read (S 201 ), and then the data file is decompressed so the digital camera  100  can play back the decompressed data file having the file format compatible with the computer. At this time, the output unit  150  is used for previewing the data file so as to determine whether the data file is the file required by the user (S 203 ). If the data file is the file required by the user, then the data file is edited to the length or size required by the user (S 205 ). If the data file is not the file required by the user, then the data file of the external device is re-read until the data file is the file required by the user.  
         [0025]     Then, the data file is stored in the data storage area  146  (S 207 ), and the data file is compressed (S 209 ). The compression ratio of the image file is the highest ratio acceptable to the digital camera  100 , and the sound-effect file is compressed to the lowest compression ratio acceptable to the digital camera  100 . Finally, the data file is stored in a specified position of the memory unit  140  (S 211 ) to be used when the digital camera is turned on or off, standing by or entering the selection list.  
         [0026]     In summary, in the method and apparatus for generating frames and sound effects of digital cameras by using computer-compatible files according to the present invention, the computer-compatible file formats are applied so that the digital camera  100  can play back the user&#39;s favorite frames and sound effects when turned on or off, standing by and entering the selection list. This will overcome the compatibility problem in the prior art.  
         [0027]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7