JPH01146471A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electronic camera capable of recording still images and audio signals.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, electronic cameras have been proposed to replace silver halide cameras, which convert images into electrical signals and record them along with audio on video floppies, making it possible to immediately display captured images on a monitor, etc., without having to develop or print them. They are rapidly becoming popular due to the realization of many functions that cannot be obtained from silver halide cameras, such as the ability to reproduce or print out colors and transmit them to remote locations.

In such electronic cameras, when a release switch is operated during shooting, an image signal is taken into the imaging means and converted into an electrical signal. After processing the image signal into a recordable form, the image signal is transferred to a track on a magnetic disk. Perform field or frame recording. The audio signal is also recorded in the selected recording time mode (eg 5 seconds, 10 seconds.

20 seconds mode) is captured, A/D converted via noise reduction, time compressed at a compression rate corresponding to the recording time mode, then D/A converted and recorded on the disc. It is configured so that it is recorded to the following tracks. Therefore, during playback, a video signal is generated from a predetermined track of a magnetic disk device, and an audio signal is also A/D converted and read into the memory, read out again at a predetermined rate, D/A converted, and then recorded. The file is expanded and output according to the compression ratio.

By the way, cameras, including silver halide cameras, are usually equipped with a self-timer.The self-timer delays the time from when the shutter is released until the shutter is actually opened, thereby controlling the camera's shutter release operation. In addition to allowing the photographer to become the subject of the photograph, the self-timer allows the user to vary the timing of the photograph, expanding the scope of photography, and making it an indispensable feature of the camera.

While the self-timer is operating, in order to make the user aware that the self-timer is operating, it is necessary to make a beeping sound using an electronic buzzer or the like, or displaying a display such as light emission or blinking using an LED or the like.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, as described above, if the self-timer operation is indicated by a beep or the like, the beep itself used for displaying the sound is picked up by the microphone and input into the device along with the audio signal, becoming noise and being recorded. It has the disadvantage that it is recorded on the medium.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention has been made with the aim of eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks, and is capable of recording an image signal obtained from an imaging means and an audio signal imported from an external device onto a recording medium, and at the same time, it is possible to record the image signal obtained from an imaging means and an audio signal imported from an external device, and to set the timing of image capture at a predetermined time. An electronic camera equipped with a time-delaying self-timer, comprising a sounding means for displaying by sound that the self-timer is in operation, and a subtraction means for subtracting a sound signal component of the sounding means from the audio signal. Therefore, even if the beep sound used to indicate the operation of the self-timer is picked up by an audio signal input means such as a microphone and mixed into the audio signal, the component of the beep sound is subtracted from the audio signal and recorded as noise. It is designed to be able to prevent this.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an electronic camera according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of an electronic camera according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a lens, 2 is an aperture, 3 is a shutter, 4 is an aperture/shutter control circuit for controlling the aperture and shutter, and 5 is a through-hole through the lens. A solid-state image sensor as an imaging means that converts a subject image formed on the imaging surface into an electrical signal and outputs it; 6 is a drive circuit that drives the solid-state image sensor 5; 7
8 is a video signal processing circuit that converts the signal output from the solid-state image sensor 5 into a form suitable for recording operation, 8 is a microphone for taking in an audio signal from the outside, and 9 is a time axis for the audio signal picked up by the microphone 8. An audio signal processing circuit which compresses the audio signal into a format that can be recorded on a video floppy; 10 is an audio signal memory that stores audio signal information at the stage of time axis compression; 11 is operated by a system control circuit to be described later, and performs video signal processing. A switching circuit selectively switches the output of the circuit 7 and the output of the audio signal processing circuit 9 and supplies it to a recording amplifier to be described later; 12 is a recording amplifier; 13 is a magnetic head; D is a video floppy;
14 is a switch for selecting audio recording time. According to the unified standard for this type of electronic camera, when recording audio signals, there are three modes for the time axis compression rate: 320x, 640x, and 1280x, each of which is 5x in terms of the actual recording time.
It is possible to record seconds, 10 seconds, and 20 seconds. 15 is a motor for rotating the video floppy, 16 is a motor servo circuit that rotates the motor 15, 17 is a system control circuit that controls the operation of the entire camera, and 18 is an audio recorder that records audio signals on the video floppy D along with image information. 19 is a shirt release switch, and 20 is a shutter release after a predetermined time elapses after operating the shirt release switch 19. 3
21 is a self-timer circuit for delaying image capture by operating the self-timer circuit 20.
.

22 is a timer time setting switch for setting the operating time of the self-timer; L is a light emitting diode for displaying the operation of the self-timer circuit 20; 23 is a switch for indicating the operation of the self-timer circuit 20; A sound generation circuit that allows the user to recognize it by sound,
24 is a small speaker or a small buzzer as a sounding body;
25 is a photometric sensor, 26 is a photometric circuit that performs photometry based on the output of the photometric sensor 25, 27 is an automatic focus control circuit that controls the lens 1 and adjusts focus, and 28 is a start timing for capturing audio signals. A control signal generation circuit 29 is a delay circuit that delays the output of the control signal generation circuit by a time T as described later.

Further, 30 is a subtraction circuit arranged between the microphone 8 and the audio signal processing circuit 9, and supplies a signal obtained by subtracting the output signal component of the sound generation circuit 23 from the audio output signal of the microphone 8 to the audio processing circuit 9. . As a result, even if the beep for self-timer operation display outputted from the sounding body 24 is mixed into the audio signal via the microphone 8,
Since this component is canceled out by the subtraction circuit, it is possible to prevent it from being recorded together with the audio signal as noise.

The electronic camera of the present invention is constructed as described above, and its operation will be explained next.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are timing charts for explaining the operation sequences of the above-mentioned electronic camera, and show the recording sequence of only image signals and the recording sequence of image and audio signals, respectively. , will be explained step by step with reference to FIG.

When recording only the video signal, turn off the mode selection switch 18 in Fig. 1 to select the video only mode, and turn on the self-timer 〇N10FF switch 21.
By setting the self-timer circuit 20 to the standby state. At this time, the operating time of the self-timer is set using the operating time setting switch 22.

In FIG. 2, after focus adjustment is performed by the focus control circuit 27, the self-timer circuit 20 starts operating by the system control circuit 17 by operating the shirt release switch 19 at time tQ.

At the same time, the light emitting diode L starts blinking, and the sounding circuit 23 becomes operational and drives the sounding body 24.
A light and sound will indicate that the self-timer is operating.

Note that when the switch 18 is OFF, the audio signal processing circuit 9
does not work and no audio is captured.

System core) Roll circuit 1
7, control signals are output from the system control circuit 17 to the aperture/shutter control circuit 4 and the drive circuit 6 of the solid-state image sensor 5, respectively, and the aperture 2, shutter 3, and solid-state image sensor 5 are activated. Each is operated. Also, the time t at which the self-timer operation ends
At time t5 preceding 4, the photometry circuit 26 is driven, photometry is performed from the light incident on the photometry sensor 25, and the optimum aperture value and shutter speed are set.

Furthermore, the video floppy rotation motor 15, which has the slowest start-up, starts rotating when a control signal is applied from the system control circuit 17 to the motor servo circuit 16 at a further preceding time t2, and the self-timer operation ends. At time t4 when the image capturing operation is started, the rotation is in a stable state.

At time t4, the self-timer operation ends and a shirt release is performed, and an image is captured and recorded on the solid-state image sensor 5. The video signal outputted from the solid-state image sensor 5 is processed into a predetermined form by the video signal processing circuit 7 and is FM modulated, and sent to the video floppy disk via the switching circuit 11, the recording amplifier 12, and the magnetic head 13. It is recorded as a video signal on one track of D. In this case, time 14 at which the video signal is recorded
During the period from ~t5, the switching circuit 11 is switched to the recording amplifier 12.
The system control circuit 17 connects the input of the video signal processing circuit 7 to the output of the video signal processing circuit 7. After the recording of the video ends at time t5, the motor 15 is stopped and the recording sequence is ended.

Next, a case where an audio signal is recorded together with an image signal will be explained using the timing chart of FIG. 3.

In FIG. 1, by turning on the mode selection switch 18, an audio recording mode is entered in which an audio signal is recorded as well as an image. Then, the audio recording time selection switch 14 selects the audio recording time (5 seconds, 10 seconds, or 20 seconds). Also, like the image recording mode in Figure 2, when using the self-timer, self-timer 〇N
The 10FF switch 21 is turned on to put the self-timer circuit 20 into a standby state. At the same time, the self-timer operation time setting switch 22 is used to set the self-timer operation time.

In the above state, after performing focus adjustment etc., the time to
When the shirt release switch 19 is operated, the system control circuit 17 causes the self-timer circuit 20 to start operating. At the same time, the light emitting diode L starts blinking, and the sound generating circuit 23 becomes operational, and the sound generating body 24 is driven to indicate by a beep that the self-timer is in operation.

Also, when the self-timer starts operating (time to),
The control signal generation circuit 28 is operated by the system control circuit 17, its output becomes ENABLE, and a start signal is issued to the audio signal processing circuit 9, but it is delayed by the delay circuit 29 by the time T, and the actual time is t.
At time t1, after a time T has elapsed from o, a signal to start capturing audio is supplied to the audio signal processing circuit 9, and the microphone 8 starts the audio signal capturing operation.

Similarly to the image-only recording sequence shown in FIG. 2, the system control circuit g
By being detected at t7, control signals are output from the system controller 217 to the aperture, shutter control circuit 4, and solid-state image sensor 5 drive circuit 6, respectively, and the aperture 2, shutter 3, and solid-state image sensor 5 operate respectively. be done. Also, the time t4 at which the self-timer operation ends
At time t3, which precedes the photometry circuit 26, the photometry circuit 26 is driven and photometry is performed from the light incident on the photometry sensor 25, and the optimum aperture value and shutter speed are set.

Furthermore, the video floppy rotation motor 15, which has the slowest start-up, starts rotating when a control signal is applied from the system control circuit 17 to the motor servo circuit 16 at time t2 when the motor 15 starts up further, and the self-timer operation ends. At time t4, when the image capturing operation is started, the rotation is in a stable state.

At time t4, the operating force of the self-timer ends and a shirt release is performed, and an image is captured and recorded on the solid-state image sensor 5. The video signal output from the solid-state image sensor 5 is processed into a predetermined form by a video signal processing circuit 7, and is FM modulated, and then sent to a video floppy 14 via a switching circuit 11, a recording amplifier 12, and a magnetic head 13. is recorded as a video signal on one track. In this case, the time t at which the video signal is recorded
During the period from 4 to t5, the switching circuit 11 operates as the recording amplifier 1.
WMf is controlled by the system control circuit 17.

On the other hand, to explain the recording of the audio signal, the audio signal that starts to be taken into the audio signal processing circuit 9 at time t1 is converted into a digital signal by a built-in A/D converter (not shown) and stored in the memory 10. Ru. The data in the memory 10 is read out at a predetermined rate, converted into an analog signal by the D/A converter built in the audio signal processing circuit 9, and then time-base compressed onto a video floppy via the recording amplifier 12. It is FM modulated and recorded. Therefore, compression and expansion of the time axis can be performed by changing the rate at which data is read from the memory 10 (three modes of time axis compression ratios of 320 times, 640 times, and 1280 times can be selected).

As is clear from FIG. 3, at time t1, after time T has elapsed since the operation of the self-timer circuit 20 was started from time to, the control signal generation circuit 28 output is ENABLE
A signal to start capturing the sound generated by The audio signal is taken into the signal processing circuit 9, and the audio signal of the recording time corresponding to the preselected time axis compression ratio is A/D converted and stored in the memory 10 (audio signal processing 1).

Furthermore, during the above-mentioned voice capturing operation, it is natural that the sound output from the sounding body 24 for displaying the operation of the self-timer is picked up by the microphone 8 and mixed into the audio signal. Since the output signal component of the sound generation circuit is subtracted from the output signal of the sound generation circuit, the audio signal processing circuit 9 is supplied with only the audio signal from which the sound component of the sound generation unit 24 is removed, and the sound is recorded as noise. can be prevented.

In other words, even when an audio signal is being captured, sound and light can be displayed by the sounding body 24 and the light emitting diode L, which is extremely effective as a self-timer operation display and has high utility value. .

At time t4 when the self-timer operation ends, the video signal is recorded on a predetermined track on the video floppy D, but the audio signal continues to be recorded even after time t5 when the video signal processing and recording at time t4 are completed. , continues capturing and processing the audio signal until the audio signal for the set recording time is stored in the Memo+J 10, and at time t6 when the audio signal capture is completed, the switching circuit 11 causes the recording amplifier 12 to process the audio signal. circuit 9
After reading out the audio signal data stored in the memory 10 at a rate corresponding to the set time axis compression rate and performing predetermined signal processing (audio signal processing 2), the audio signal data stored on the video floppy D is recorded on the next track where the video signal was recorded. This track change is performed by operating a head moving mechanism (not shown) in response to a command from the system control circuit 17 and moving the head 13 between time t5 and time t6 when recording of the video signal is completed. be exposed. Then, at time t7 when recording of the audio signal ends, the motor 15 is stopped, and the sequence of continuous recording of the video signal and the audio signal ends.

As mentioned above, the video signal is recorded by the self-timer circuit 2.
This is done when the timer operation time set to 0 has elapsed, and the audio signal starts to be captured for the selected voice recording time from the time delayed by a predetermined time after the self-timer starts operating, and the video signal is recorded. After performing this, you can change the track and record the audio signal.

Therefore, by appropriately selecting the audio recording time and the self-timer operating time, audio signals can be captured at any timing. For example, if the delay time of the delay circuit 29 is 5 seconds, and the self-timer operating time is set to 10 seconds and the audio recording time mode is also set to 10 seconds, recording will be performed for 5 seconds before and after shooting (time ta). Gadeheru. Also, if you set the 20 second mode, it will record the audio for 5 seconds before the photo is taken, and 15 seconds after the photo is taken, and if you use the 5 second mode, it will record the audio for 5 seconds before the photo is taken.

In terms of sound quality, the shorter the recording time, that is, the lower the time axis compression ratio, the better the sound quality, so it can be selected as appropriate. Many other applications are possible by varying the self-timer time.

In addition to the above configuration, if the delay time of the delay circuit 29 is made variable, even more audio capture patterns are possible.

Further, in the above embodiment, the subtraction circuit 30
Although the output signal of the sound generation circuit 23 is subtracted from the output signal of the microphone 8, as shown in FIG. However, the output signal of the microphone 31 may be supplied to the subtraction circuit 30 and subtracted from the audio output signal of the microphone 8. In this way, since the sound actually emitted by the sound generating body 23 can be captured, it is less susceptible to the effects of level fluctuations, etc., and the transmitted sound can be subtracted more accurately from the audio signal.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the electronic camera of the present invention, in the electronic camera capable of recording image signals and audio signals onto a recording medium and equipped with a self-timer, the self-timer is in operation. The sound pronunciation and signal components captured at the same time are removed from the captured audio signal by providing a sounding means for displaying the sound by sounding, and a subtraction means for subtracting the sound signal component of the sounding means from the audio signal. As a result, even if the beep for display is captured along with the audio signal from outside, it will not be recorded as noise. , the noise component can be removed. Therefore, even during audio recording, the operation of the self-timer can be displayed not only by light such as a light emitting diode but also by sound, so that it is possible to provide an effective and easy-to-recognize display for the user.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are timing charts for explaining the operation in the configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a portion showing an embodiment. 5... Solid-state image sensor 7... Video signal processing circuit 8... Microphone 9... Audio signal processing circuit 10... Memory 11... Switching circuit 12... Recording amplifier 13... Magnetism Head 14...Audio recording time selection switch 15...Motor 16...Motor servo circuit 17...System control circuit 18...Audio recording mode selection switch 19...Shirt release switch 20...Self Timer circuit 21... Self-timer 〇N10FF switch 22.
...Operating time setting switch 23...Sound generation circuit 24...Sound generation body 28...Start/stop signal generation circuit 29...
Delay circuit 30...Subtraction circuit 31...Microphone D...Video floppy L...Issuing diode

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an electronic camera equipped with a self-timer capable of recording an image signal obtained from an imaging means and an audio signal taken in from the outside onto a recording medium and delaying the timing of photographing by a predetermined period of time, the self-timer operates. An electronic camera comprising: a sounding means for displaying by sounding that the sound is inside; and a subtracting means for subtracting a sounding signal component of the sounding means from the audio signal.