Image Pickup Apparatus with Restricted Storage Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image pickup apparatuses cannot acquire image information in environments where photographing is prohibited, limiting their convenience and preventing the use of augmented reality to provide information about the subject, while also failing to effectively protect copyrighted content.
Innovation Solution
An image pickup apparatus with a control unit that allows image acquisition while restricting image file storage, using restriction signals to manage the image pickup and storage processes based on specific operation states, ensuring that copyrighted content is protected.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If image pickup is completely prohibited in a photographing prohibited area, then content protection is improved, but convenience and functionality are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing pipeline into two independent parts: image pickup (acquisition) and image storage. The control unit selectively prohibits only the storage function while allowing the pickup function to operate normally. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by protecting content (prohibiting storage) while maintaining convenience (allowing pickup for AR and other functions).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different operational modes to different functional components of the image pickup apparatus. The image pickup unit operates in a permissive mode (acquiring images for display and processing), while the storage unit operates in a restrictive mode (prohibited from saving images). This local differentiation of quality/permission levels resolves the contradiction between protection and convenience.
2Reliability
If image pickup is completely prohibited in a photographing prohibited area, then copyright protection is improved, but augmented reality functionality is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates the augmented reality function from the storage function. The control unit allows image pickup to proceed for AR processing while prohibiting only the storage of image files. This enables AR functionality to operate normally in prohibited areas while maintaining copyright protection through storage restrictions.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary that mediates between the image pickup unit and the storage unit. It receives prohibition signals and selectively blocks only the storage pathway while allowing the image pickup pathway to continue operating for AR purposes. This intermediary control resolves the contradiction between copyright protection and AR functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
The objective of the invention is to enhance the convenience of image pickup apparatus, while protecting contents in an environment of viewing the contents. An image pickup apparatus is characterized in that the image pickup apparatus comprises: an image information acquisition unit that acquires image information generated by photoelectric conversion; an image storage processing unit that generates an image file on the basis of the acquired image information and that causes the image file to be stored on a storage medium; and a control unit that performs control to provide a state in which the acquisition of the image information is possible and the storage of the image file is restricted.