JP2006086815A - Television camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a response speed of a television camera combined with an automatic aperture lens without incorporating an amplifier circuit is made different corresponding to the combined lens, since a lens aperture is controlled by a fixed loop gain regardless of the response speed on the lens side, a user cannot adjust the response speed corresponding to a state of using the camera, especially, the user cannot adjust the response speed of the lens aperture in a state of photographing a moving body despite a user's wish to adjust the response speed, and there is no display for the adjustment. <P>SOLUTION: The television camera has a lens capable of controlling an aperture, an imaging unit which images incident light from the lens and outputs a video signal, and a monitor. The imaging unit is provided with a loop gain changer for controlling the aperture of the lens, a setting part for setting the loop gain changer, and a display means for displaying the setting content of the setting part on the monitor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a television camera, and more particularly to a television camera combined with an automatic aperture lens that does not incorporate an amplifier circuit.

  Conventionally, a television camera combined with an automatic iris lens without a built-in amplifier circuit controls the lens iris with a constant loop gain regardless of the response speed on the lens side. Response speed was different. Also, the response speed could not be adjusted according to the situation where the camera was used.

An example in which the setting of the control value of the automatic iris lens is controlled from the camera remote control device is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
JP-A-8-289190

  As described above, conventionally, since the lens diaphragm is controlled with a constant loop gain regardless of the response speed on the lens side, the response speed differs depending on the lens combined with the television camera. Also, the response speed could not be adjusted according to the situation where the camera was used.

In particular, in a situation where the moving body is imaged, there is a problem that the response speed of the lens diaphragm is desired to be adjusted but cannot be adjusted, and there is no display for adjustment.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems and enable a display for adjusting and adjusting the response speed of an automatic iris lens.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a television camera having a lens unit capable of aperture control, an imaging unit for imaging incident light from the lens unit, and outputting a video signal, and a monitor. A television set comprising: a loop gain variable unit that controls the aperture of the lens unit; a setting unit that sets the loop gain variable unit; and a display unit that displays the setting contents of the setting unit on the monitor. John Camera.

  The television camera may further include an external input terminal, and the loop gain variable unit may be set by a signal input from the external input terminal.

  According to the present invention, the response speed of the lens aperture can be adjusted even when a television camera and an automatic aperture lens that does not include an amplifier circuit are combined.

An embodiment of a television camera according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a simple configuration of a television camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows only the portions necessary for the description of the television camera of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a display screen of an embodiment of the television camera of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic aperture lens unit that does not include an amplifier circuit 7 (described later), 2 denotes a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) imaging device that converts light incident from the lens unit 1 into an electrical signal, and 3 denotes CCD imaging. CDS (Correlated Double Sampling) & AGC (Automatic Gain Control) that removes noise from the signal output from the element 2 and adaptively adjusts the gain, 4 is a DSP (Digital Digital Signal Processor) that performs various image processing on the signal output from the CDS & AGC Signal processor (5) is an ENC (Encoder) for converting a video signal to an NTSC (National Television System Committee) system, a PAL (Phase Alternating by Line) system, etc., and 12 is a signal output from the ENC 5 and a character signal generator 11 ( A synthesizing unit for synthesizing the signals output from the synthesizing unit, 30 a monitor for displaying the signals output from the synthesizing unit 12, and 8 for predicting according to the input signals A CPU (microcomputer) that controls the DSP 4, a character signal generator 11 (described later), and a loop gain variable circuit 6 (described later) according to a predetermined program, 11 displays characters on the monitor 30 in accordance with a signal output from the CPU 8. A character signal generator for generating a character signal, 6 a loop gain variable circuit for controlling an iris control signal input from the DSP 4 according to a signal input from the CPU 8, and 7 amplifying the signal input from the loop gain variable circuit 6. An amplifier circuit, 9 is an aperture control motor for driving the lens diaphragm of the lens unit 1 by a signal input from the amplifier circuit 7, and 10 is for an operator to set a set value of the loop gain variable circuit 6 via the CPU 8. It is a setting button. 14 is a remote terminal for controlling the lens diaphragm of the lens unit 1 from the outside of the imaging unit 13, and 15 is a remote control signal input from the remote terminal.

  In FIG. 2, the display screen is displayed on the monitor 30. Reference numeral 40 denotes a cursor for selecting the video signal level (LEVEL) output from the synthesizing unit 12 and the response speed (SPEED) of the loop gain variable circuit 6 on the display screen, and 41 is a set value of the loop gain variable circuit 6. Is a display bar for displaying on the display screen. Reference numeral 42 denotes a display bar for displaying the set value of the video signal level output from the synthesizing unit 12 on the display screen.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described in detail.
In FIG. 1, light from a subject (not shown) enters the lens unit 1. The lens unit 1 adjusts the amount of incident light with a lens diaphragm and forms an image on the CCD image sensor 2 of the imaging unit 13. The CCD image sensor 2 photoelectrically converts the imaged light and outputs it to the CDS & AGC 3. The CDS & AGC 3 removes noise from the input signal, adaptively adjusts the gain, and outputs it to the DSP 4. The DSP 4 performs various image processing such as edge enhancement and white balance adjustment on the input signal in accordance with the signal output from the CPU 8 and outputs it to the ENC 5 and the loop gain variable circuit 6. The ENC 5 converts the input signal into a video signal of the NTSC system or the PAL system and outputs it to the combining unit 12. The synthesizer 12 synthesizes the character signal output from the character signal generator 11 with the input video signal and outputs the synthesized signal to the monitor 30. The monitor 30 displays the input signal as an image. The loop gain variable circuit 6 compares the video signal level setting value input from the CPU 8 with the iris control signal input from the DSP 4, and the video signal level setting value input from the CPU 8 to the iris control signal input from the DSP 4. Increase or decrease the output level until it becomes the same as. Further, the loop gain variable circuit 6 increases or decreases the iris control signal input from the DSP 4 according to the set value of the response speed of the lens diaphragm input from the CPU 8 and outputs it to the amplifier circuit 7. The amplifier circuit 7 amplifies the input iris control signal and outputs it to the aperture control motor 9 of the lens unit 1. The aperture control motor 9 controls the lens aperture of the lens unit 1 according to the input iris control signal and adjusts the amount of incident light.

Next, an embodiment for adjusting the response speed of the lens diaphragm of the lens unit 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
In FIG. 1, for example, the operator can compositely display the display screen of FIG. 2 on the subject image displayed on the monitor 30 by pressing the center button of the setting button 10 composed of five buttons.

  Then, the operator presses the upper or lower button of the setting button 10 while looking at the display screen of FIG. 2 displayed on the monitor 30 to move the cursor 40 to the “LEVEL” item. Next, the left or right button of the setting button 10 is pressed to move the display bar 42 to a desired position. When the display bar 42 is moved to the left, the subject image becomes darker, and when it is moved to the right, the subject image becomes brighter.

  In this operation, the CPU 8 recognizes the button of the setting button 10 pressed by the operator and displays the position of the display bar 42 on the display screen from the character signal generator 11. Further, the CPU 8 generates a video signal level setting value from the position of the display bar 42 and outputs it to the loop gain variable circuit 6. The loop gain variable circuit 6 compares the video signal level setting value input from the CPU 8 with the iris control signal input from the DSP 4, and the video signal level setting value input from the CPU 8 to the iris control signal input from the DSP 4. The level of the iris control signal is increased or decreased by a predetermined amount until the value reaches the same value, and the iris control signal is output to the amplifier circuit 7. The amplifier circuit 7 amplifies the input iris control signal and outputs it to the aperture control motor 9 of the lens unit 1. The aperture control motor 9 controls the lens aperture of the lens unit 1 according to the input iris control signal and adjusts the amount of incident light. The increase / decrease of the iris control signal level output from the loop gain variable circuit 6 by a predetermined amount is to open / close the lens diaphragm by a predetermined amount with respect to the level increase / decrease of the predetermined amount of the iris control signal.

  Next, the operator moves the cursor 40 to the “SPEED” item by pressing the upper or lower button of the setting button 10 while viewing the display screen of FIG. Next, the left or right button of the setting button 10 is pressed to move the display bar 41 to a desired position. When the display bar 41 is moved to the left, the response speed is decreased by a predetermined amount, and when the display bar 41 is moved to the right, the response speed is increased by a predetermined amount.

  In this operation, the CPU 8 recognizes the button of the setting button 10 pressed by the operator and displays the position of the display bar 41 on the display screen from the character signal generator 11. Further, from the position of the display bar 41, the CPU 8 generates a set value of the response speed of the lens aperture and outputs it to the loop gain variable circuit 6. The loop gain variable circuit 6 increases or decreases the gain of the iris control signal input from the DSP 4 in accordance with the lens diaphragm response speed setting value input from the CPU 8, and outputs the iris control signal to the amplifier circuit 7. The amplifier circuit 7 amplifies the input iris control signal and outputs it to the aperture control motor 9 of the lens unit 1. The aperture control motor 9 controls the lens aperture of the lens unit 1 according to the input iris control signal and adjusts the amount of incident light.

In the above embodiment, the character signal of the display screen is synthesized with the video signal, but only the character signal of the display screen may be displayed on the monitor 30.
Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When the operator wants to control the video signal level and the lens aperture response speed by remote control, a remote control signal is input to the remote terminal 14 from, for example, a personal computer or an operating device via the Internet. The input remote control signal 15 is input to the CPU 8. The CPU 8 generates a set value of the response speed of the lens aperture from the input remote control signal 15 and outputs it to the loop gain variable circuit 6. The loop gain variable circuit 6 increases or decreases the amplification factor of the iris control signal input from the DSP 4 in accordance with the set value of the response speed of the lens diaphragm input from the CPU 8 and outputs it to the amplifier circuit 7. The amplifier circuit 7 amplifies the input iris control signal and outputs it to the aperture control motor 9 of the lens unit 1. The aperture control motor 9 controls the lens aperture of the lens unit 1 according to the input iris control signal and adjusts the amount of incident light. Further, the CPU 8 generates a video signal level setting value from the input remote control signal 15 and outputs it to the loop gain variable circuit 6. The loop gain variable circuit 6 compares the set value input from the CPU 8 with the iris control signal input from the DSP 4, and the iris control signal input from the DSP 4 has the same value as the video signal level set value input from the CPU 8. The iris control signal is increased / decreased until the value becomes, and output to the amplifier circuit 7. The amplifier circuit 7 amplifies the input iris control signal and outputs it to the aperture control motor 9 of the lens unit 1. The aperture control motor 9 controls the lens aperture of the lens unit 1 according to the input iris control signal and adjusts the amount of incident light.

The CPU 8 reflects the set value of the response speed of the lens aperture and the set value of the video signal level by the remote operation in the display positions of the display bar 41 and the display bar 42 in the display screen of FIG.
2 may be a viewfinder attached to a television camera.

  Although the present invention has been described in detail above, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the television camera described herein, and can be widely applied to television cameras other than those described above.

The figure which shows the simple structure of one Example of the television camera of this invention. The figure which shows the display screen of one Example of the television camera of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1: lens unit, 2: CCD image sensor, 3: CDS & AGC, 4: DSP, 5: ENC, 6: loop gain variable circuit, 7: amplifier circuit, 8: CPU, 9: aperture control motor, 10: setting button, 11: character signal generation unit, 12: synthesis unit, 13: imaging unit, 14: remote terminal, 15: remote control signal, 30: monitor, 40: cursor, 41, 42: display bar.

Claims (2)

In a television camera having a lens unit capable of aperture control, an imaging unit that captures incident light from the lens unit, and outputs a video signal, and a monitor,
The imaging unit includes a loop gain variable unit that controls a diaphragm of the lens unit, a setting unit that sets the loop gain variable unit, and a display unit that displays the setting content of the setting unit on the monitor. A featured television camera. 2. The television camera according to claim 1, further comprising an external input terminal, wherein the loop gain variable unit is set by a signal input from the external input terminal.