COMMUNICATION DEVICE, CONTROL METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION DEVICE, AND PROGRAM

Abstract

To solve a problem in which it is not possible to notify with appropriate information in some cases.SOLUTION: A communication device includes first means that wirelessly communicates with an imaging device, second communication means that wirelessly communicates with the imaging device, receiving means that receives a notification from the imaging device, and control means that controls to make output of the notification with at least a part of the image received from the imaging device or output of the notification without the image received from the imaging device different depending on whether the reception is through the first communication means or the second communication means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication device capable of wirelessly communicating with an imaging device. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, automatic cameras that take pictures periodically and continuously without a user giving a shooting instruction have become known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a device that has a pan-tilt mechanism and automatically searches for and shoots a subject. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-92354 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a device such as the one described in Patent Document 1, images are taken automatically at the discretion of the camera, so it is difficult for the user to know in real time from outside that a photo has been taken. Therefore, it is conceivable to notify the user of what kind of photo has been taken when a wireless connection is established, for example.

[0005] However, if the notification is not appropriate, depending on the route through which the notification is sent, it may take too long to display the notification itself, or unnecessary information may be presented.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to notify more appropriate information depending on the transmission path. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, a communication device of the present invention includes a first communication means for wirelessly communicating with an imaging device, a second communication means for wirelessly communicating with the imaging device, a receiving means for receiving a notification from the imaging device, and a control means for controlling whether to output a notification accompanied by at least a portion of an image received from the imaging device or to output a notification not accompanied by an image received from the imaging device, depending on whether the notification is received via the first communication means or the second communication means; and a switching means for switching between a state in which the imaging device is connected via the first communication means and a state in which the imaging device is connected via the second communication means, and when the switching means switches from a state in which the imaging device is connected via the first communication means to a state in which the imaging device is connected via the second communication means, the control means requests information on a notification history from the imaging device. . Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to notify with more appropriate information depending on the transmission route. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of an imaging device and a communication device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an imaging device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed when transmitting a notification by the imaging device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] 5 is a flowchart illustrating a notification display of the communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a notification history according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a BLE message of a notification according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a Wi-Fi message of a notification according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining notification character string resolution according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10]FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a display of a notification transmitted by BLE according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a display of a notification transmitted via Wi-Fi according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a notification history screen according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] 10 is a flowchart illustrating a notification history screen display according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14] 13 is a flowchart illustrating notification history deletion according to the third embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0011] [First embodiment] In the first embodiment, a communication system will be described using a camera as an imaging device 100 that transmits and displays a notification with an image, and a smartphone as a communication device 110. Also, a communication procedure before and after switching between a first communication path and a second communication path will be described.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an imaging device 100 and a communication device 110. The imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 each include a Bluetooth communication module and a wireless LAN communication module, and are connected and communicated through a wireless communication system described later. Here, a digital camera is described as an example of an imaging device, but the imaging device is not limited to this. For example, the imaging device may be an information processing device such as a portable media player, a so-called tablet device, or a personal computer. Here, a smartphone is described as an example of a communication device, but the communication device is not limited to this. For example, the communication device may be an information processing device such as a portable media player, a so-called tablet device, or a personal computer.

[0013] 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the imaging device 100. The imaging device 100 has a BLE communication unit 201 for BLE as a first communication path, and a wireless LAN communication unit 202 for wireless LAN (hereinafter referred to as Wi-Fi) conforming to the IEEE802.11 standard series as a second communication path, and communicates with the communication device 110.

[0014] The storage unit 203 stores various information such as a control program executed by the control unit 205 and parameters necessary for communication. In addition, digital image data output from the imaging unit 204 is converted by the control unit 205 into a recording format such as JPEG format or MPEG format, and recorded in the storage unit 203.

[0015] In the imaging unit 204, an imaging element receives light incident through a lens group, and outputs charge information according to the amount of light as digital image data to the control unit 205. Generally, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) or a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is used as the imaging element.

[0016] The control unit 205 is a control unit that controls the entire imaging device 100 by executing a control program stored in the storage unit 203, and is implemented by, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Various operations of the imaging device 100 described below are realized by the control unit 205 executing the control program stored in the storage unit 203. Note that instead of the control unit 205 controlling the entire device, the entire device may be controlled by multiple hardware devices sharing the processing.

[0017] After the control unit 205 determines which notification should be transmitted, the notification is transmitted to the communication device 110 using the BLE communication unit 201 and the wireless LAN communication unit 202 as a notification transmission unit.

[0018] 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the communication device 110. A BLE communication unit 301 and a wireless LAN communication unit 302 of the communication device 110 are equivalent to the BLE communication unit 201 and the wireless LAN communication unit 202 of the imaging device 100, and the imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 communicate with each other using these communication means.

[0019] The storage unit 303 stores various information such as a control program executed by the control unit 306 and parameters necessary for communication.

[0020] The display unit 304 has a function of outputting visually recognizable information using an LCD or LED, or a function of outputting sound using a speaker, and displays various types of information.

[0021] The operation unit 305 is, for example, a button that accepts a user's operation of the communication device 110. In this embodiment, the display unit 304 and the operation unit 305 are configured as a touch panel, and therefore are configured as a common member.

[0022] The control unit 306 is a control unit that controls the entire communication device 110 by executing a control program stored in the storage unit 303, and is implemented by, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Various operations of the communication device 110 described below are realized by the control unit 306 executing the control program stored in the storage unit 303. Note that instead of the control unit 306 controlling the entire device, the entire device may be controlled by a plurality of hardware devices sharing the processing.

[0023] Next, a flow from transmission and reception of a notification with an image in a system using the imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 to displaying the notification to a user will be described with reference to Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. Here, it is assumed that the imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 are powered on in advance, and communication via BLE is established.

[0024] FIG. 4 shows the flow when the imaging device 100 sends a notification, FIG. 5(a) shows the flow when the communication device 110 receives a notification, and FIG. 5(b) shows the processing flow when the communication device 110 switches the communication path from BLE to Wi-Fi.

[0025] First, the flowchart in Fig. 4 will be described. Each step of this flowchart is executed by the control unit 205 controlling each unit of the imaging device 100. However, in the following description, for ease of understanding, each step will be described as being executed by the imaging device 100. Also, this flowchart starts in a state where the imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 are connected via BLE or wireless LAN.

[0026] First, the imaging device 100 judges whether there is an event to be notified to the user regarding the shooting situation or the state of the housing (S401). If there is an event to be notified, a notification message is created and the notification is transmitted to the communication device 110 (S402). Several types of notifications are predefined, and one of them is transmitted. In addition, whether an image is attached or not is predefined for each type of notification. If the notification to be transmitted is a notification with an image, an image ID, which is image identification information for uniquely identifying an image stored in the storage unit 203, is included in the notification message. Here, the image ID can be a method of using an arbitrary numerical value, a method of using a directory number and a file number according to the camera file system standard, or a method of using a UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) ​​assigned to each image.

[0027] The imaging device 100 records the transmitted notification information in the recording unit 203 as a notification history recording means (S403). The recorded information is called a notification history. The notification history holds information on any number of notifications that occurred in the past, one or more of which have occurred.

[0028] Next, the flowchart of Fig. 5(a) will be described. Each step of this flowchart is executed by the control unit 306 controlling each unit of the communication device 110. However, in the following description, for ease of understanding, each step will be described as being executed by the communication device 110. Also, this flowchart starts in a state where the imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 are connected via BLE or wireless LAN.

[0029] First, the communication device 110 waits for a notification to be transmitted from the imaging device 100 (S501) and receives the notification (S502). After receiving the notification, the communication path state is confirmed (S503), and if connected via BLE, a notification consisting of only a character string is displayed on the display unit 304 (S504). The character string to be displayed in the notification is determined by extracting a notification number as notification content identification from the notification message and referring to the notification character string table shown in Fig. 9 to obtain the character string to be displayed. Furthermore, even if the received notification is a notification with an image, the image is not displayed, and only the notification character string corresponding to the notification number included in the notification information is displayed.

[0030] On the other hand, if connected via Wi-Fi, the image is received by the image acquisition means using the image ID included in the received notification message (S505), and the notification with the image is displayed (S506). The image acquisition means is provided by the control unit 306, and acquires the corresponding image via the wireless LAN communication unit 302 by inquiring the imaging device 100 using the image ID received from the imaging device 100.

[0031] Next, the flowchart in Fig. 5(b) will be described. Each step of this flowchart is executed by the control unit 306 controlling each unit of the communication device 110. However, in the following description, for ease of understanding, each step will be described as being executed by the communication device 110. Also, this flowchart starts in a state where the imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 are connected via BLE.

[0032] When the communication device 110 is connected via BLE, it waits for the timing to switch the communication path to Wi-Fi (S510). When the condition for switching the communication path to Wi-Fi is satisfied, the communication path is switched from BLE to Wi-Fi by a communication path switching means provided by the control unit 306 (S511). Here, the timing for switching the communication path to Wi-Fi (the condition for switching the communication path to Wi-Fi) is when a dedicated application for operating the imaging device 100 is launched by a user operation and starts operating in the foreground of the communication device 110.

[0033] This switching of the communication path is realized by so-called handover. Specifically, when a dedicated application for operating the imaging device 100 starts operating in the foreground of the communication device 110, the communication device 110 requests the imaging device 100 to switch to Wi-Fi via BLE. The imaging device 100 that receives this request transmits Wi-Fi network parameters to the communication device 110 via BLE. The network parameters here include an SSID and a password. The imaging device 100 also generates a Wi-Fi network. Specifically, the imaging device 100 starts broadcasting a beacon including the SSID transmitted to the communication device 110 via BLE, and waits for a request from the communication device 110 to join the network. On the other hand, the communication device 110 that receives the network parameters including the SSID and the password requests to join the Wi-Fi network generated by the imaging device 100. The imaging device 100 allows this, and a connection is established between the imaging device 100 and the communication device 110 via Wi-Fi, and the switching of the communication path from BLE to Wi-Fi is completed.

[0034] After switching the communication path to Wi-Fi, the communication device 110 receives a notification history from the imaging device 100 by the notification history acquisition means (S512). The notification history acquisition means is provided by the control unit 306, and issues a notification history request to the imaging device 100 to receive the notification history recorded in the storage unit 203 of the imaging device 100.

[0035] Here, the notification history transmitted by the imaging device 100 may include all recorded history, but as will be described later, in this first embodiment, the information used is only the most recent item, so it is preferable to transmit only the most recent item of history.

[0036] After receiving the notification history, the communication device 110 acquires the corresponding image from the imaging device 100 by the image acquisition means if an image ID is included in the notification message (S513). Finally, the communication device 110 displays a notification with the image by using at least a part of the received image (S514).

[0037] FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the notification history that the imaging device 100 saves when transmitting a notification (S403). One notification is represented by one line, and each time a new notification is transmitted, another line is added to the beginning and the information is recorded. The notification number is a number for uniquely identifying the type of notification. The occurrence date and time is the date and time when the notification occurred. This is recorded using a character string or a number representing the date and time. Next, the image ID is image identification information representing an image to be added to the notification in this embodiment. The image ID is an identifier for uniquely identifying an image recorded in the imaging device 100, and is recorded using a number that uniquely identifies the image, or a file path or address that represents the location of the image.

[0038] Image IDs do not necessarily need to be recorded for all notifications, and notifications that do not contain images do not have corresponding images, so image IDs are not recorded. The row with notification number 1 in Figure 6 shows this case. On the other hand, notification numbers 2 and 3 can be read as notifications that include images.

[0039] The notification information may include other information to be held as notification information as appropriate. For example, there may be an identifier to identify a specific person, a specific period, error information, etc. Also, this information does not necessarily need to be included in all notifications, and only the necessary information may be included in combination.

[0040] FIG. 7 is a diagram explaining the message of one notification sent by BLE. The message includes the notification number, the date and time of occurrence, and the directory number and file number as the image ID. The notification number and the date and time of occurrence are as explained in FIG. 6. The directory number and file number comply with the camera file system standard, and a unique image file can be identified by combining these. For example, in the case of the directory number "100" and the file number "1" shown in FIG. 7, the name will be "DCIM / 100xxxxx / yyyy0001.zzz". Here, xxxxx and yyyy are arbitrary character strings that are determined by the design of the imaging device 100. Also, zzz is the file extension.

[0041] Here, the message in FIG. 7 is merely an example, and does not necessarily have to take this form. For example, the date and time of occurrence does not necessarily have to be included in the message. Also, the image ID may be expressed as some kind of numerical value or character string. However, since the amount of data that can be transmitted by BLE is limited, it is better to keep the amount of data as small as possible. Therefore, it is more preferable to express the image ID as a numerical value rather than a character string.

[0042] Figure 8 is a diagram explaining the message of one notification sent over Wi-Fi. The message is expressed in JSON format and includes a notifyno variable as the notification number, a date variable as the date and time, and an imageid variable as the image ID. The notifyno variable represents the notification number using a numeric value. The date variable represents date and time information using a character string. The imageid variable represents the file path indicating the location of the image file using a character string.

[0043] Here, the message shown in Fig. 8 is merely an example, and does not necessarily have to take this form, and a format other than JSON may be used, or a numeric string may be used. Also, the occurrence date and time do not necessarily have to be included in the message. Also, for example, the imageid variable may use the same expression method as the BLE message.

[0044] In addition, although the present embodiment shows an example in which the same information is transmitted in different formats between BLE and Wi-Fi, it is not necessary to transmit the same information in BLE and Wi-Fi. For example, in the notification information in BLE, the directory number and file number, which are image IDs, may be omitted because they are not used to display the notification.

[0045] Next, notifications displayed on communication device 110 will be described with reference to Fig. 10 and Fig. 11. Fig. 10 shows the notification displayed in S504 in Fig. 5, and Fig. 11 shows the notifications displayed in S506 and S514.

[0046] In this embodiment, when the notification is displayed in S504, the dedicated application is not running, and the notification is displayed using the notification function provided by the operating system of the smartphone. In Fig. 10, 1001 is a notification area where the notification is displayed, and 1002 is a notification character string.

[0047] Next, when the user presses the notification area 1001 or the icon of the dedicated application to launch the dedicated application, a notification is displayed in the dedicated application as shown in Fig. 11. In Fig. 11, 1101 is a notification display area provided in the dedicated application. The notification character string 1002 displays the text explained in Fig. 10 as is. Also, 1103 is an image obtained (S505, 513) using the image ID attached to the notification.

[0048] Furthermore, the notification area 1101 or the attached image 1103 may be a button that can be pressed by the user, and when pressed, it may have a function of enlarging and displaying the attached image 1103, or a function of transitioning to a screen that displays a list of other excellent photos.

[0049] Here, the method of recording the notification history after the imaging device 100 transmits a notification to the communication device 110 has been described as the timing for recording the notification history, but this is not limited to the above. For example, an event that requires notification may occur in a state where neither BLE nor Wi-Fi is connected. In such a case, a method of recording in the notification history in response to the occurrence of an event that requires notification may be used.

[0050] Also, the method of recording all sent notifications in the notification history has been described, but a method of selecting notifications to be recorded in the notification history depending on the type of notification or other conditions may also be used.

[0051] In addition, in acquiring notification history and images associated with notifications via Wi-Fi, a method of acquiring images again using image identification information contained in the notification history after receiving the notification history has been described, but a method of directly attaching image information to notification history information and transmitting / receiving the information may also be used. In this case, there is a method of directly recording image information in the notification history recorded in the storage unit 203, and a method of recording image identification information in the notification history recorded in the storage unit 203, and reading out the corresponding image from the storage unit 203 and attaching it when transmitting the notification history.

[0052] In this embodiment, it is assumed that the user is operating other applications on the smartphone while communication is being performed using low-speed BLE. In many cases, the smartphone performs some kind of communication with other targets to provide services. Therefore, forcibly changing the communication path by an application operating in the background can cause a disruption of user operation. Therefore, in this embodiment, while the notification system is operating in the background, only the minimum communication that does not disrupt the user's operation is performed. Furthermore, a system has been described in which, when the notification system is moved to the foreground by the user's will, a faster communication path is switched to and information that should be presented to the user based on history information is received and presented without deficiency.

[0053] As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the function of displaying a notification with an image, it is possible to provide a communication system capable of appropriately presenting a notification with an image to a user without interfering with the user's operation by switching a communication path.

[0054] [Second embodiment] In the first embodiment, a method was described in which a dedicated application of the communication device 110 is launched and the most recent notification is redisplayed when the device is connected to Wi-Fi. However, there may be cases in which the user wishes to go back and check the recorded notification history.

[0055] In the second embodiment, a method will be described in which a dedicated application of the communication device 110 is started and when the communication device 110 is connected to Wi-Fi, all notifications recorded in the notification history of the imaging device 100 are redisplayed. Also, a method of transmitting and receiving data associated with displaying the notification history will be described.

[0056] The system configuration in the second embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment, and therefore the explanation will be omitted. The following will explain the differences from the first embodiment.

[0057] Fig. 12 is a diagram for explaining a history screen as a history display means. The history screen is a screen displayed on the display unit 304 of the communication device 110, and displays a list of notifications that have occurred in the past. Fig. 12 shows the display of the screen when the notification history shown in Fig. 6 is displayed, and notifications are displayed from the top in order of oldest to newest. Furthermore, each notification area 1201, 1211, 1101 displays the date and time (1204, 1214, 1224) when the respective notification occurred.

[0058] Reference numeral 1201 denotes a notification area of ​​the oldest notification, which displays a message 1202 indicating that the image was backlit at this time, and an image 1203 recording the angle of view of the image capture unit 204 at that time.

[0059] 1211 is the second notification, and displays the text 1212 indicating that the battery is low. In the case of notifications without images, such as 1211, there is no image and only text is displayed.

[0060] Here, the number of notification histories displayed on the history screen is not limited to three, and all notification histories recorded in the imaging device 100 are displayed. The history screen may have a function of scrolling through the history by a user operation to go back in time.

[0061] In addition, regarding the display of the date and time of notification, an example of the year, month, date, and time has been shown, but this is not limited to this. For example, the elapsed time from the occurrence may be displayed, and in this case, the time may be rounded up and displayed as "1 minute ago" or "2 days ago", etc.

[0062] 13 is a diagram for explaining the behavior of the communication device 110 when displaying a history screen when the notification history contains multiple notification histories. Since there are many similarities with FIG. 5, differences will be explained.

[0063] After receiving the notification history (S512), the communication device 110 determines whether an image ID is attached to each notification included in the notification history (S1302), and if an image ID is attached, makes an image request (S513) (S1301).

[0064] After all notification images have been acquired, the history screen is displayed (S1303).

[0065] When displaying a notification history screen such as that shown in Fig. 12, the communication device 110 generally records the received notifications and uses the information when displaying the screen. However, when transmitting or receiving a notification including data that is difficult to obtain over a slow communication path, such a method is not practical because it takes a long time to obtain the data or it is necessary to tolerate data loss. In this embodiment, a method has been described in which a notification generation history is stored in the imaging device 100, allowing a large amount of data to be transmitted or received after a high-speed communication path becomes available.

[0066] In the present embodiment, a method has been described in which a dedicated application of the communication device 110 is started and all notification histories recorded in the imaging device 100 are redisplayed when a Wi-Fi connection is established, but the timing for displaying the notification history screen is not limited to this. For example, a method may be used in which the notification history screen is called up by a user operation after the dedicated application is started.

[0067] As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a communication system that can appropriately present to a user a notification history with images even for notifications that occurred in the past, in the function of displaying a history of notifications with images.

[0068] [Third embodiment] In the third embodiment, an imaging device 100 will be described that changes the notification history when the notification history is transmitted if the image indicated by the image identification information included in the notification history has already been deleted.

[0069] The imaging device 100 has an image deleting means for deleting images stored in the storage unit 203. For example, the image deleting means may have a function for selectively deleting images by the user, a function for deleting all recorded information in the storage unit 203, a function for automatically deleting images of poor quality as photographs in order to continue automatic shooting, and the like. For example, the user may use a function of a dedicated application installed in a communication device to display a list of images stored in the imaging device 100, and input an instruction to delete an image selected by the user. In this case, the dedicated application that has received an instruction to delete an image instructs the imaging device 100 to delete the image. The image deleting means may also delete images attached to notifications with images described in the first and second embodiments.

[0070] In such a case, the image used to display the notification may not exist, and the notification may be incomplete, such as not displaying the image that should be displayed together with the image. The present embodiment is a method for solving such a problem.

[0071] The system configuration of the third embodiment is the same as that of the first and second embodiments, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted. The following describes the differences from the first and second embodiments.

[0072] 14 is a flow diagram illustrating the process from when the imaging device 100 is requested to send a notification history to when it transmits the notification history. The imaging device 100 waits for a notification history request from the communication device 110 (S1401). After accepting the notification history request, the imaging device 100 reads out the notification history recorded in the storage unit 203, and checks whether a corresponding image exists in the storage unit 203 using the image ID included in the notification information of each notification in the history (S1402, S1403). At this time, the invention is completed by a method of checking the existence of an image for all notifications included in the notification history, but it is preferable to check the notification number of each notification and check the existence of the corresponding image only in the case of a notification with an image.

[0073] If there is no image indicated by the image ID, that is, if the image has been deleted by some means, the notification item is deleted from the notification history (S1404). For all notifications recorded in the notification history, if an image ID is included, a check is made to see if that image exists, and the remaining notification history information is then transmitted to communication device 110 (S1405).

[0074] In this embodiment, the display method when there is no image for the notification with image has been described in the case of displaying the history screen, but the same method can be used for the notification display screen as shown in the first embodiment. In that case, when the history of the latest notification is deleted, in addition to the method of displaying the notification one step before as the latest notification, a display in the case where there is no notification to display may be performed.

[0075] As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the function of displaying a notification with an image, it is possible to provide the user with a function of preventing inconsistencies in the display when the image does not exist.

[0076] Finally, in the first to third embodiments, an image is used as the data attached to the notification, but the present invention can also be applied to cases where, for example, audio, video, or other data is attached.

[0077] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0078] (Other embodiments) The present invention can also be realized by a process in which a program for implementing one or more of the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device read and execute the program. The present invention can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) that implements one or more of the functions.

Claims

1. A first communication means for wirelessly communicating with the imaging device; A second communication means for wirelessly communicating with the imaging device; A receiving means for receiving a notification from the imaging device; a control means for controlling whether to output a notification accompanied by at least a part of an image received from the imaging device or to output a notification not accompanied by an image received from the imaging device, depending on whether the notification is received via the first communication means or the second communication means; a switching means for switching between a state in which the first communication means is connected to the imaging device and a state in which the second communication means is connected to the imaging device, When the switching means switches from a state in which the imaging device is connected via the first communication means to a state in which the imaging device is connected via the second communication means, the control means requests information regarding a notification history from the imaging device. Communications equipment.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that when a notification including information for identifying the image is received via the second communication means, the control means controls to request the image from the imaging device via the second communication means, and, upon receiving the requested image, to output a notification accompanied by at least a portion of the image received from the imaging device.

3. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that when a notification including information for identifying the image is received via the first communication means, the communication device is controlled to output a notification without an image received from the imaging device.

4. The communication device described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that when information regarding the history of the notification obtained in response to a request includes image identification information, the control means obtains an image corresponding to the identification information and outputs a notification accompanied by at least a part of the image.

5. a deletion means for deleting images recorded in the imaging device, 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein a notification corresponding to an image deleted by said deleting means is not included in the information on the notification history.

6. A method for controlling a communication device having a first communication means for wirelessly communicating with an imaging device and a second communication means for wirelessly communicating with the imaging device, comprising: a receiving step of receiving a notification from the imaging device; a control step of controlling whether to output a notification accompanied by at least a part of an image received from the imaging device or to output a notification not accompanied by an image received from the imaging device depending on whether the notification is received via the first communication means or the second communication means; The method further includes a switching step of switching between a state in which the first communication means is connected to the imaging device and a state in which the second communication means is connected to the imaging device, A control method for a communication device, which, when the switching step switches from a state in which the communication means is connected to the imaging device via the first communication means to a state in which the communication means is connected to the imaging device via the second communication means, requests information regarding notification history from the imaging device.

7. The control method for a communication device according to claim 6, characterized in that, when a notification including information for identifying the image is received via the second communication means, the control step controls to request the image from the imaging device via the second communication means, and, upon receipt of the requested image, to output a notification accompanied by at least a portion of the image received from the imaging device.

8. The control method for a communication device according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, when a notification including information for identifying the image is received via the first communication means, a notification not accompanied by the image received from the imaging device is output.

9. The method further includes a deletion step of deleting images recorded in the imaging device, 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein a notification corresponding to an image deleted in the deleting step is not included in the information on the notification history.

10. A computer readable program for causing a computer to function as each of the means of the communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

Images