(Japanese Site)
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| JEIDA to Set Rules for Digital Camera File Format
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March 26, 1998 (TOKYO) -- The Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) said it will
standardize detailed compatibility rules for Exif ver.2.0, a file format for digital cameras, as early as
April.
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The detailed rules are to follow the SEG rules set in February by 11 major manufacturers of digital
cameras.
JEIDA rules will allow users of different digital cameras and printers to ensure they can review images,
since the association will regulate file formats of image data and rules to record the data. The products
conforming to the detailed rules will be given the unified logo of the association. Products with the logo
are likely to hit the market in the second half of the year.
The rules state that users should create a directory in the first layer and save images under the
directory when recording images in the record medium. Although there have heretofore been models to record
images this way, in some cases users could not find directories and files created with models made by
other makers, because each maker adopted proprietary rules for names of directories and files.
The new detailed rules will thus regulate ways to decide names of directories and files. Both directory
and file names should be eight half-sized, large-capital alphanumeric characters.
The first two characters for the directory name should be IM, the third and fourth characters should be
numbers between 01 to 99, and users can use anything for the last four characters.
For the file name, the first four characters are free, and the next four characters should be numbers
between 0001 to 9999 with the extension JPG.
Under the rules, there will be two ways to review and confirm image files. Users can review or confirm
either images on a thumbnail (index image) or they can review and reuse main images.
The thumbnail will have 160 x 120 pixels. The relatively large size will enable users to distinguish
similar images. By using the thumbnail, images taken by a digital camera with a large number of pixels
also can be confirmed on a display of a digital camera with a small number of pixels.
The capability of using main images will be likely used for printers and applications in the future. Such
products will specify parameters such as the number of pixels, so users can review original images
regardless of the number of pixels. That is as long as the number of pixels across is in the range of 160
and 1,280 and the number down is in the range of 120 and 1,024.
The group of the 11 companies supporting Exif, which also regulated the SEG detailed rules, are: Olympus
Optical Co., Ltd.; Casio Computer Co., Ltd.; Konica Corp.; Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corp.; Seiko
Epson Corp.; Toshiba Corp.; Nikon Corp.; Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.; Minolta Co., Ltd.; and Ricoh Co., Ltd.
(Hi-Tech News Center)
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