JPH1132249A - Camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a camera device capable of obtaining a frame image by photographing using flash illumination even if a CCD that performs interless scanning is used. SOLUTION: A digital camera device 1 performs photoelectric conversion of an optical signal of a subject from an optical system in field units.
A DRAM controller 14 or the like which constitutes an image information creating unit for creating image information based on image data obtained by interlaced scanning of the CD 11 for each field; and any of a flash illumination image capturing mode and an ordinary light image capturing mode. An operation input unit 17 having a selection button for selecting one of the modes. When the image capturing mode for flash illumination is selected by the selection button by the image information generating unit, the image information corresponding to one frame is generated based on the image data for one field.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera device, and more particularly, to a camera device that digitizes an image of a subject and records the digitized image on a recording medium in the form of still image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a digital camera device that records a photographed subject as still image information (hereinafter, simply referred to as image information). For example, a digital camera device
The image information is recorded on a recording medium such as a floppy disk.

Conventionally, a digital camera apparatus has a camera image pickup unit, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) that extracts an optical signal from a subject by interless scanning.
e).

[0004] Here, the interlaced scan is to scan signals in units of fields constituting one frame to take in signals and the like. The signals for each field obtained by the interless scan are converted into image data. The image information for the frame is created by combining the image data for the field.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, in an interlaced scanning CCD 101, continuous capture is performed twice for two fields of an ODD field (b) and an EVEN field (c), and the capture is performed twice. One frame image (a) is created by combining two fields of image data.

[0006]

In the case of photographing using flash illumination, the flash illumination must be emitted twice in order to obtain images in the ODD field and the EVEN field.

For example, some of the above-mentioned flashlights use a so-called strobe discharge tube. In this case, a capacitor for obtaining a high potential is required. Therefore, in order to emit light twice as described above, two capacitors C ₁₀₀ and C ₁₀₁ for emitting the flashlight 102 are required, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and the device becomes complicated. ,
In addition, the cost increases. The flashlight 10
Switch SW to shift the light emission start time of
₁₀₀ and SW ₁₀₁ are required for the capacitors C ₁₀₀ and C ₁₀₁ , respectively.

It is also conceivable to use only one capacitor. However, in this case, it is difficult to continuously emit light at short time intervals, and only one field image can be captured. This makes it impossible to create a frame image by combining two fields as described above.

Therefore, a camera device according to the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and obtains a frame image by photographing using flash illumination even when using a camera imaging unit that performs interlaced scanning. It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera device capable of performing the following.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a camera apparatus according to the present invention performs photoelectric conversion on an image of one frame composed of a plurality of fields. An image sensor that performs photoelectric conversion of the optical signal of each field in units of fields, an image information creating unit that creates image information based on image data obtained by interlacing the image sensor for each field, and an image capturing mode for flash illumination And a selecting means for selecting one of the normal light image capturing mode. When the flash illumination image capturing mode is selected by the selecting means by the image information generating means, the image data for one field is converted to image data for one field. Based on this, image information corresponding to one frame is created.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An embodiment of the present invention is a digital camera device that digitizes still image information (hereinafter simply referred to as image information) of a captured subject and records the digitized still image information on a floppy disk serving as a recording medium.

FIG. 1 shows a main circuit configuration and the like of the digital camera device, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show external configurations. In addition,
The floppy disk 100 is a 3.5-inch disk-shaped magnetic disk, for example, and is a magnetic recording medium rotatably housed in the disk cartridge 101.

As shown in FIG. 1, a digital camera device 1 converts an optical signal into an electric signal, that is, a so-called photoelectric conversion for an image of one frame composed of a plurality of fields. An image sensor (Charge Coupled D) that performs photoelectric conversion of optical signals in units of fields
evice, hereinafter referred to as CCD. 11) and a sample-hold / analog-digital conversion circuit (hereinafter, simply referred to as a sample-hold circuit) constituting an image information creating section for creating image information based on image data obtained by interlaced scanning of the CCD 11 for each field. 12, camera signal processing circuit 13, and DRAM for storing image information
5 and an operation input unit 17 having a selection button for selecting one of the flash illumination image capturing mode and the ordinary light image capturing mode.

In the digital camera device 1 configured as described above, the selection result of the image capturing mode by the selection button provided on the operation input unit 17, that is, one of the flash illumination image capturing mode and the ordinary light image capturing mode. , Image information corresponding to one frame is created by the image information creation unit from the frame image data or the field image data.

Here, the field constitutes one frame, and the digital camera device 1 fetches the electric signal of the field unit from the CCD 11 by an interless scan in which the CCD 11 is scanned in units of the field. Processing is in progress. In this example, ODD which is a field composed of odd-numbered scanning lines is used.
One frame is composed of two fields, an EVEN field, which is a field composed of a field and an even-numbered scanning line.

The flash illumination image capturing mode is a mode in which an image is obtained by photographing a subject using flash illumination, and the ordinary light image capturing mode is performed without using the flash illumination device. In this mode, an image is obtained by photographing a subject under ordinary light.

The digital camera device 1 has a flash illumination section 34 for realizing the flash illumination image capturing mode. For example, the flash illumination unit 34 irradiates illumination toward the subject within the photoelectric conversion period for one field, and sets the flash illumination time to terminate the illumination before the photoelectric conversion for the next field. Have. Therefore, the digital camera device 1 can obtain effective image data for one field by one light emission of the flash illumination unit 34 having the above-described flash time characteristics.

For example, the flash illuminating section 34 is constituted by using a so-called strobe discharge tube for giving a high voltage to the gas in the tube to discharge the gas to obtain a flash, and using a capacitor for obtaining a high voltage. Have one. The gas in the pipe is, for example, xenon gas.

Therefore, the digital camera device 1 operates when the flash illumination image capturing mode is selected.
The photoelectric conversion of the light signal from the subject illuminated by the flash illumination unit 34 is performed in units of fields, and the image data of the effective one field obtained by the photoelectric conversion of each field corresponds to one frame. Creating image information.

Note that the digital camera device 1 may not include the flash illumination unit 34, and the flash illumination unit may be detachable from the device. Even in this case, the flash illumination image capturing mode can be executed.

The digital camera device 1 has a CCD
A DRAM 5 for storing image data of a still image obtained based on an electric signal from the LCD 11, an LCD panel 15 on which an object or the like obtained from image information is displayed, and a panel signal for supplying an RGB signal to the LCD panel 15 The processing circuit 16 and an on-screen display (On Screen Display) capable of displaying characters and the like on the LCD panel 15
y, hereinafter referred to as OSD. 4) Writing of image information to floppy disk 100 and floppy disk 1
A floppy disk controller (hereinafter, referred to as FDC) 18 and a floppy disk drive (hereinafter, referred to as FDD) 19 are provided as write / read means for reading and reading image information and the like recorded in 00.

The digital camera device 1 has a microcomputer 6, which is used by the flash illuminator 34, OSD 4 or DRA.
It controls each section of the image information creating section composed of the M controller 14 and the like. Digital camera device 1
The microcomputer 6 detects the operation state of the operation input unit 17 and controls the image information creation unit based on the detection result to create image information corresponding to a frame. For example, the image information creation unit
The M controller 14 creates image information corresponding to one frame based on the image data for each field.

The DRAM 5, DRAM controller 14, microcomputer 6, and FDC 18 are connected to each other by a common bus.

In the digital camera device 1, a light beam from a subject passes through the objective lens 33, is received by the CCD 11, and is converted into an electric signal by the CCD 11.

The CCD 11 is configured to convert an optical signal of a subject from an optical system such as the objective lens 33 into an electric signal on a per-field basis. As described above, the flash illumination unit 34 can be illuminated on a field-by-field basis.

The converted electric signal output from the CCD 11 is sampled and held by the sample and hold circuit 12 and then converted into a 10-bit digital signal.
/ D conversion. The A / D converted 10-bit digital signal is supplied to the camera signal processing circuit 13.

The camera signal processing circuit 13 performs a predetermined process on the 10-bit digital signal supplied from the sample hold circuit 12, and outputs the processed signal to the DRAM controller 14. The camera signal processing circuit 13
In this example, an 8-bit luminance signal Y and a 4-bit color difference signal C are generated from an input signal, and these signals Y and C are generated by a DRAM.
The data is output to the controller 14.

The DRAM controller 14 supplies the luminance signal Y and the color difference signal C from the camera signal processing circuit 13 to the panel signal processing circuit 16 as they are. Note that the CCD 11
Is not a square lattice, the DRAM controller 14
Supplies the panel signal processing circuit 16 with the luminance signal Y and the color difference signal C from the camera signal processing circuit 13 formed into a square lattice.

The panel signal processing circuit 16 generates a red signal R, a green signal G, and a blue signal B from the input luminance signal Y and color difference signal C, and outputs these RGB color signals to the LCD panel 15. Thereby, the image of the subject to be imaged is displayed on the LCD panel 15.

The DRAM controller 14 stores the luminance signal Y and the color difference signal C from the camera signal processing circuit 13 in a predetermined area of the DRAM 5 under the control of the microcomputer 6, which will be described in detail later. Note that DRAM 5
By using two 4 megabytes,
It has a storage area of 8 megabytes in total.

The operation input unit 17 includes various operation buttons such as a shutter button, operations such as zooming, editing such as data erasure, and selection buttons for selecting the above-described image capturing mode.
The operation content of the switch or the like is detected, and the detected signal is output to the microcomputer 6 as an operation signal.

The microcomputer 6 includes, for example, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) capable of high-speed processing.
er: a reduced instruction set computer) type, and a read only memory (ROM) 6 in which a software program for controlling each block is stored.
a.

As described above, the microcomputer 6 detects the operation signal output from the operation input unit 17 according to the operation state, and controls the image information creation unit to create image information. .

The microcomputer 6 executes a software program in the ROM 6a based on an operation signal from the operation input unit 17 to control image compression / decompression and file management during shooting, reproduction, and editing. And so on.

The microcomputer 6 controls the FDD 19 by the FDC 18 and
For example, reading of image information and the like recorded at 00 or writing of image information and the like to the floppy disk 100 is performed.

With the above configuration, the microcomputer 6 of the digital camera device 1 has the operation input unit 1
7 based on the selection result of the image capturing mode by the selection button.
4 is determined.

That is, the digital camera device 1 sends information on whether to handle image information as a field or as a frame from the microcomputer 6 to the image information creating section based on the image capture mode. Further, the digital camera device 1 controls the flash illumination unit 34 based on the image capturing mode.

For example, when a flash illumination image capturing mode for photographing a subject using the flash illumination unit 34 is selected, only one field obtained by illumination by the flash illumination unit 34 by the image information creating unit is selected. , Image information corresponding to one frame is created. For example, creation of image information corresponding to one frame based on image data of one field is performed as shown in FIG.
The image data in the field (b) is complemented to create image information corresponding to one frame (a).

When the ordinary light image capturing mode in which the subject is photographed without using the flash illumination unit 34 is selected, the image information creating unit combines two fields of image data by performing processing such as synthesis. Create one frame of image information. That is, in the ordinary light image capturing mode, as shown in FIG. 5, the frame data (a) is created by combining the image data of the ODD field (b) and the EVEN field (c) in the conventional manner.

The digital camera device 1 displays a still image on the LCD panel 15 by the panel signal processing section 16 based on the image information created as described above.

As described above, the digital camera device 1
Based on the selection result of the image capturing mode, it is selected that the image information is automatically generated by either the field image data or the frame image data. Therefore, the digital camera device 1 can always create an image corresponding to a frame using a CCD for interless scanning and even with one flash illumination unit 34.

Thus, a frame image can be created irrespective of whether flashlight is used or not.

The digital camera device 1 has an LCD
It is possible to display on the panel 15 that the selection has been changed to the flash illumination image capturing mode. For example, by displaying on the LCD panel 15 that a change has been made from the creation of an image based on frame image data to the creation of an image based on field image data by selecting the flash illumination image capture mode, the user can use the flash By selecting the illumination image capturing mode, it is possible to know that an image is created by the image data in the field. Further, according to the OSD 4, the user, while watching the image displayed on the LCD panel 15, knows that the image is created by the field image data by selecting the flash illumination image capturing mode as described above. Can be.

For example, the digital camera device 1 configured as described above has an appearance as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and has a generally rectangular parallelepiped outer shape and a portable size. In this digital camera device 1,
A shutter button 32, an objective lens 33, and a flash (flash light unit) 34 are attached to an upper portion on the front side of the housing 31, respectively, so that the shutter button 32 can be pressed by the right index finger of the user.

The digital camera device 1 is provided with a housing / mounting section 2 having an insertion opening 35a on one side surface 35 of the housing 31, and an opening / closing lid 3 is provided so that the housing / mounting section 2 can be opened and closed. Installed. Thus, the digital camera device 1 can load the disk cartridge 101 in which the floppy disk 100 is stored from the side portion 35 side into the storage mounting portion 2.

The storage and mounting section 2 is provided with an FDD 19 for writing and reading image information and the like to and from the floppy disk 100.

Storing and mounting section 2 for floppy disk 100
Specifically, the floppy disk cartridge 101 is inserted from the shutter 101a side.

The digital camera device 1 has a housing 31
An LCD panel 15 is mounted on the back side of the camera, and a subject is displayed on the LCD panel 15 during shooting.

In the digital camera device 1, when the subject is photographed by pressing the shutter button 32, the image information on the subject and the image information on this image information are stored in the floppy disk 100 in the disk cartridge 101 loaded in the FDD 19. The thumbnail image information serving as an index is recorded.

The digital camera device 1 has an LC
Various operation buttons / switches 36 around the D panel 15
a, 36b, 36c, 36d, 36e, 36f, 36g
By operating these various operation buttons, it is possible to perform operations such as zooming at the time of shooting, edit data deletion, etc., and select the above-mentioned flash illumination image capturing mode and ordinary light image capturing mode. Can be performed.

The opening and closing of the opening / closing lid 3 is performed by opening / closing operation section 37.
Is moved up and down so that the engaging claws 38a and 38b interlocking with the opening / closing operation section 37 and the engaging sections 3a and
3b by releasing or holding the engaged state.

In the flash camera image capture mode, the digital camera device 1 configured as described above presses the shutter button 32 to cause the flash illumination unit 34 to emit light, thereby photographing the subject. Further, the digital camera device 1 converts the light signal from the object at this time into an electric signal by the CCD 11, and interlace scans the converted electric signal to obtain field image data. Then, the digital camera device 1 is connected to the flash illumination unit 34.
Image information is created based on the one-field image data obtained by illumination by the
The image is displayed on the panel 15 or the like.

[0053]

The camera device according to the present invention photoelectrically converts an image of one frame composed of a plurality of fields, and performs image-to-field conversion of an optical signal of a subject from an optical system in field units. Image information creating means for creating image information based on image data obtained by interlacing the image sensor for each field, and one of a flash illumination image capturing mode and an ordinary light image capturing mode Selecting means for selecting an image capturing mode for flash illumination, wherein the image information generating means generates image information corresponding to one frame on the basis of image data for one field. Thus, even when using the flash illumination means, an image equivalent to a frame is obtained in the same manner as when photographing with ordinary light. It is possible.

In other words, the camera device automatically selects, based on the selection result of the image capturing mode, that the image information is created based on either the image data of the field or the image data of the frame. And the flash illuminating means is 1
Even if the number is one, an image corresponding to a frame can always be created.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a case where image information corresponding to a frame is created from image data of one field in a flash illumination image capturing mode in the digital camera device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an appearance of the digital camera device, and is a perspective view seen from the front.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an external appearance of the digital camera device, and is a perspective view seen from a rear direction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a case where image information of one frame is created from two fields, which is conventionally performed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration for continuously emitting flash light twice.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a case in which flash light is continuously emitted twice to create one frame of image information from two fields, which is conventionally performed.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 digital camera device, 11 CCD, 12 sample hold / analog / digital conversion circuit, 13 camera signal processing circuit, 14 DRAM controller, 17
Operation input section

Continued on the front page (72) Kunihiko Yamaya, Inventor Kunihiko 6-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Sony Corporation (72) Inventor Masanari Kimura 6-35, Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sonny shares In-house (72) Inventor Narimitsu Morita 1 Kozaka-cho, Nada-shi, Aichi Prefecture, Sakazaki, Suzukagai 1 Sony Koda Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Fumiaki Kato 6-7-35 Kita Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Stock In company

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image sensor for photoelectrically converting an image of one frame composed of a plurality of fields, wherein the image sensor performs photoelectric conversion of an optical signal of a subject from an optical system on a field basis. Image information creating means for creating image information based on image data obtained by interlaced scanning every time; selecting means for selecting one of a flash illumination image capturing mode and an ordinary light image capturing mode The image information creating means includes: 1 when the image capturing mode for flash illumination is selected by the selecting means;
A camera device for creating image information corresponding to one frame based on image data for a field. 2. A flash illuminating means for irradiating illumination to the object within a photoelectric conversion period for one field and terminating the illumination before photoelectric conversion for the next field. The camera device according to claim 1. 3. The camera device according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying that the flash illumination image capturing mode is selected on the display means. 4. The image information creating means creates image information corresponding to one frame by complementing data from one field of image data when the flash capturing image capturing mode is selected by the selecting means. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The image pickup device performs photoelectric conversion on an image of one frame composed of two fields, and performs photoelectric conversion of an optical signal of the subject from the optical system on a field basis. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein