JP2007086460A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera capable of detecting a using state by a photographer while restraining the rise of cost. <P>SOLUTION: The camera is equipped with: an eyepiece finder 50 having an eyepiece finder window; a release button 30 generating a first operation signal by operator's manual operation; an operation member 40 generating a second operation signal by being brought into contact with a part of operator's face; and a detection part connected to the release button 30 and the operation member 40 so that it can communicate with them, and detecting that it is an ocular state where a photographer looks in the eyepiece finder 50 by receiving the first operation signal and the second operation signal at the same time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  Regarding the camera.

As a method for detecting that the photographer has entered the photographing preparation operation, there is a method for detecting whether the photographer is looking through the viewfinder of the camera (for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, there is a technique that reduces power consumption by turning off a display unit provided in a camera, assuming that a photographer enters a shooting preparation operation by detecting that a release button operation is input.
JP 2001-59984 A

  However, the camera in Patent Document 1 increases the cost because a dedicated sensor is added to detect whether the photographer is looking through the viewfinder. Further, when the camera detects whether or not the photographer has entered the shooting preparation operation by half-pressing the release button, if the photographer presses the release button halfway during the camera setting operation, the photographer Contrary to the intention, power saving processing such as turning off the display member is performed if the photographing preparation operation is started.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a camera capable of detecting the usage state of an operator while suppressing an increase in cost.

  The camera to which the present invention is applied has an eyepiece finder having an eyepiece finder window, a release button that emits a first operation signal by an operator's manual operation, and a second operation signal by contacting a part of the operator's face. The generated operation member, the release button and the operation member are communicably connected to each other, and the operator is looking into the eyepiece finder by receiving the first operation signal and the second operation signal at the same time. A detection unit that detects that the eyepiece is in the eyepiece state.

  The camera to which the present invention is applied can detect the usage state of the operator while suppressing an increase in cost.

Hereinafter, a digital camera 1 according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS.
A front external view of the digital camera 1 is shown in FIG. 1, and a rear external view is shown in FIG. The digital camera 1 has an imaging lens 20 and a release button 30 on the front, a display device 40, an eyepiece finder 50, and a command dial 60 on the back.

  The imaging lens 20 includes an imaging optical system including a lens group that forms a subject image, a diaphragm device, and the like. The release button 30 is a well-known composite switch composed of a half-push switch (SW1) and a full-push switch (SW2). When the release button 30 is half-pressed, SW1 is turned ON, and when the button is further pressed and fully pressed, SW2 is turned ON. The display device 40 is a known touch screen including a liquid crystal display device 41 that displays a captured image, a menu image, and the like, and a touch panel 42 that is disposed on the display surface of the liquid crystal display device 41 and transmits light. In the present embodiment, various operation inputs can be made to the digital camera 1 in accordance with the place where the pressing operation is performed by pressing the display device 40. The eyepiece finder 50 includes an eyepiece display device including a liquid crystal display device and an eyepiece optical system. The user can observe the subject image, the menu image, and the like displayed on the eyepiece display device through the eyepiece optical system by approaching the eyepiece finder 50. The eyepiece finder 50 is a well-known Electronic View Finder (EVF) capable of displaying a through image in which a subject image continuously captured as a moving image is displayed by the imaging unit 102 described later. The command dial 60 is a rotary switch capable of sequentially switching setting values and the like of the digital camera 1 by rotating operation.

A block diagram of the digital camera 1 is shown in FIG.
The control unit 100 is a control device including a CPU and the like that control each member constituting the digital camera 1. The control unit 100 includes a lens driving unit 101, an imaging unit 102, an image processing unit 103, a ROM 104, a RAM 105, an external recording medium 106, a finder display device 107, a display unit 108, a focus detection unit 109, an exposure control unit 110, and an operation unit. 111, the release button 30 and the like are connected to control them.

  The lens driving unit 101 adjusts the focal point by driving the imaging optical system 21 of the imaging lens 20 under the control of the control unit 100. The imaging unit 102 includes an imaging element such as a CCD or a CMOS, and outputs a captured subject image signal. The image processing unit 103 performs various processes on the subject image signal output from the imaging unit 102 and displays image data for display to be displayed on a finder display device 107 or a display unit 108 in an eyepiece finder described later, Recording image data or the like for recording on the recording medium 106 is created. The ROM 104 is a non-volatile memory in which programs for operating the digital camera 1 are recorded. The RAM 105 is a volatile memory in which data is temporarily recorded during processing of the control unit 100, the image processing unit 103, and the like. The external recording medium 106 is a recording medium such as a removable memory card for recording image data for recording. The finder display device 107 is a display device configured by an eyepiece display device or the like. The display unit 108 includes the display device 40 and a driver, and outputs an operation input signal from the touch panel 42 to the control unit 100. The digital camera 1 can display a through image display by the finder display device 107 or the display unit 108. The user can confirm the shooting composition from the displayed through image. Instead of the finder display device 107 and the liquid crystal display device 41, a display device using an organic EL or the like may be used. The exposure control unit 109 detects the luminance value of the subject image based on the subject image signal, and determines the exposure conditions such as the shutter speed value and the aperture value based on this. The focus detection adjustment unit 110 detects the focus state of the imaging optical system based on the subject image signal and outputs it to the control unit. Note that the luminance value and focus state of the subject image may be detected using dedicated detection sensors, respectively. The operation unit 111 includes an operation member such as a command dial 60 and outputs an operation input by a user to the control unit 100.

<Basic processing operation>
Since the basic operation related to the imaging process of the digital camera 1 is a well-known process, a description thereof will be omitted.

<Operation input by display device>
As described above, the digital camera 1 according to the present embodiment can perform various operation inputs by touching the display device 40. FIG. 2 shows a state where the menu screen is displayed on the display device 40. On the menu screen, the user can change the operation mode of the camera and various setting values by pressing and selecting each area of the item displayed on the display device 40.

As illustrated, in the digital camera 1 according to the present embodiment, a playback item 61, an image quality item 62, and a white balance item 63 are displayed as selection items.
When the playback item 61 is selected, the mode shifts to a playback mode in which the image data stored in the external recording medium 106 is displayed on the display device 40.

  When the image quality item 62 is selected, when the image signal captured by the image capturing unit 102 is processed by the image processing unit 103 to generate recording image data, the items 62a to 62c indicating the compression rate values of the recording image data. Is displayed. FIG. 4 shows a rear view of the digital camera 1 in which items 62 a to 62 c are displayed on the display device 40. By pressing the display area of the items 62a to 62c indicating an arbitrary compression rate, the compression rate value indicated by the pressed compression rate item is set.

  When the white balance item 51 is selected, an item indicating the white balance setting value used by the image processing unit 103 when the image processing unit 103 processes the image signal captured by the imaging unit 102 and creates recording image data. Is displayed. By pressing the display area of an item indicating an arbitrary white balance setting value, the white balance value indicated by the pressed item is set.

  In addition, as an example of the mode change or setting value change of the digital camera 1 on the menu screen, the change to the playback mode, the change of the image quality setting value, and the change of the white balance setting value have been described. In the same manner as described above, various other set values can be changed by pressing the display device 40.

<User eye detection>
The digital camera 1 to which the present invention is applied can detect whether or not the user is looking through the eyepiece finder 50 (hereinafter referred to as eyepiece detection). FIG. 5 shows a state where the user looks into the eyepiece finder 50 of the digital camera 1. As illustrated, when the user 200 looks into the eyepiece finder 50 of the digital camera 1 with the eyes 201, the nose 202 contacts the back body of the digital camera 1.

  Therefore, in the digital camera 1 to which the present invention is applied, when the user 200 looks into the eyepiece finder 50, the display device 40 is disposed at a position where the nose 202 contacts, and operation input (nose contact) and release by the touch panel 42 are performed. When a half-press operation (SW1 is ON) of the button 30 is input, it is detected that the user is looking into the eyepiece finder 50. In consideration of the case where the user looks into the eyepiece finder 50 and touches the display device 40 with the nose and then presses the release button halfway, the digital camera 1 only performs contact within a predetermined time (1 second), for example. Although it detects that it is operation input and performs the process according to a press location, when a press operation is continued longer than predetermined time, the process according to the place where this press operation was performed is not performed. As a result, a malfunction or setting is prevented by contact of the nose when the user looks into the eyepiece finder 50. In addition, the display device 40 is arranged so as to cover an area where the nose may come into contact when looking into the eyepiece finder 50 with the right eye or the left eye while taking into account individual differences in the positional relationship between the eyes and the nose by the user. Has been. Note that the area of the display device 40 used for eyepiece detection may be limited to a predetermined area that is considered to be touched when the user looks into the eyepiece finder 50 with the right eye or the left eye. This makes it possible to detect the eyepiece more accurately.

Hereinafter, processing when the digital camera 1 detects the eyepiece of the user will be described based on the flow shown in FIG.
When the power of the digital camera 1 is turned on by operating a power switch (not shown), the through image is displayed by the display unit (the finder display device 107 or the display unit 108) set to display the through image in steps S1 to S3. Start display. The display unit for displaying the through image can be set on the menu screen described above.

  Next, in step S4, it is determined whether or not there is an operation input from the touch panel 42. If there is an operation input from the touch panel 42, the display device is turned on (step S5), and then the process proceeds to step S6. If there is no operation input, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, it is determined whether SW1 is turned on. If SW1 is turned on, the process proceeds to step S8. If SW1 is not turned on, the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, it is determined whether or not the power switch is turned off. If the power switch is turned off, the power of the digital camera 1 is turned off. If not, the process returns to step S4.

  In step S8, it is determined whether or not there is an operation input from the touch panel. If there is an operation input from the touch panel 42, the process proceeds to step S9, and the process proceeds to an eyepiece processing subroutine. If there is no operation input, the process proceeds to step S10.

<Eyepiece processing subroutine>
Here, description of the eyepiece processing subroutine will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
When the eyepiece processing subroutine is started, it is determined whether display by the display device 40 is ON. If the display of the display device 40 is turned on, the process proceeds to step S22. If not, the eyepiece processing subroutine is terminated. In step S22, display by the display device 40 is turned off, and the process proceeds to step S23. In step S23, it is determined whether or not the through image is displayed on the finder display device 107. When the through image is displayed on the finder display device 107, the eyepiece processing subroutine is terminated, and when it is not displayed, the process proceeds to step S24. In step S24, display of the through image by the finder display device 40 is started, and the eyepiece processing subroutine is ended. When the eyepiece processing subroutine ends, the process proceeds to step S10.

  In step 10, imaging preparation processing such as focus adjustment of the imaging lens 21 by the focus detection unit 109 and the lens driving unit 101, and setting of exposure values such as a shutter speed value and an aperture value by the exposure control unit 110 is performed. Next, in step S11, it is determined whether or not SW2 is turned on. If SW2 is turned on, the process proceeds to step S13. If SW2 is not turned on, the process proceeds to step S12. In step S12, it is determined whether SW1 is ON. If SW1 is ON, the process returns to step S8, and if SW1 is not ON, the process returns to step S1.

  In step S13, after the through image processing is stopped, an imaging process is performed in step S14. In the imaging process, a subject image is captured based on the exposure value set in step S10, and recording image data is recorded on the external recording medium 106. When the imaging process ends, the process returns to step S1.

  As described above, the digital camera 1 in the present embodiment can detect whether or not the user is looking through the eyepiece finder 50 (eyepiece detection) (steps S6 and S8). Furthermore, since the digital camera 1 according to the present embodiment can detect the eyepiece using a member (touch panel 42, release button 30 (SW1)) for operating and setting the digital camera 1, it is newly detected for the eyepiece detection. There is no need to provide a member such as a sensor, and the cost can be reduced. In addition, when the user looks into the eyepiece finder 50, a touch panel 42 whose surface is a sensor is arranged around the position where the nose comes into contact. Therefore, eyepiece detection can be performed without being influenced by individual differences between users (the positional relationship between the eye looking through the eyepiece finder 50 and the nose).

In the above description, the EVF is used as the eyepiece finder, but an optical finder may be used as the eyepiece finder.
Furthermore, when the digital camera 1 detects that the user is looking through the eyepiece finder 50 by eyepiece detection, the display of the display device 40 is turned off (the display and backlight of the liquid crystal display device 41 are turned off) (step S21). , S22), power consumption can be reduced. Note that, instead of turning off the display of the display device 40, only the backlight of the liquid crystal display device 41 may be turned off.

  When the digital camera 1 detects that the user is looking into the eyepiece finder 50 by detecting the eyepiece, if the through image is displayed on the display device 40, the digital camera 1 turns off the display device 40 and displays the through image. Since the display is changed to display on the finder display device 107 (steps S21 to S24), power consumption can be reduced and shooting can be performed smoothly.

  When it is set to display a through image on the finder display device 107, if it is detected that the user does not look into the eyepiece finder 50 by eyepiece detection, the through image processing is stopped, and the viewfinder display device is It may be turned off. In this case, when it is detected by eye detection that the user is looking into the eyepiece finder 50, through image processing is started and the finder display device is turned on. Thereby, the power consumption resulting from the through image display can be reduced. Note that, in the above, the through image processing may be stopped and the backlight of the liquid crystal display device of the finder display device 107 may be turned off without turning off the finder display device. Thereby, while reducing power consumption, a through image can be observed more smoothly.

  In the above description, when SW1 is turned on and there is an input from the touch panel 42 (Yes in Step S6 and Yes in Step S8), it is detected that the user is looking into the eyepiece viewfinder 50, and eyepiece processing (Step Although S9) is performed, the method for detecting that the user is looking into the eyepiece viewfinder 50 is not limited to this.

Hereinafter, modifications will be described with reference to FIGS.
When the user 200 looks into the eyepiece viewfinder 50 with the right eye, the touch screen is placed at a position where the nose 201 contacts the back body of the digital camera 1 and a position where the nose 201 contacts the back body when viewed with the left eye. It may be arranged. An external view of the back of the digital camera 1 in which two touch screens are provided on the back of the digital camera 1 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, display devices 40a and 40b, which are touch screens similar to the display device 40 described above, are arranged on the back of the digital camera 1. The position where the display device 40a is provided is determined on the basis of the position where the nose 201 contacts when the general user 200 looks into the finder screen 50 with the right eye. The position where the display device 40b is provided is provided based on the position where the nose 201 contacts when the general user 200 looks into the finder screen 50 with the left eye. Similar to the above-described embodiment, the display devices 40a and 40b display image data, a menu screen, and the like, and by selecting an item displayed on the menu screen by a pressing operation, the mode and various set values of the digital camera are selected. Can be changed. The digital camera 1 detects that the user is looking into the eyepiece finder 50 when SW1 is turned on and there is an input from the display device 40a or 40b.

  A touch panel may be used instead of the display devices 40a and 40b that are touch screens. In this case, a display member for displaying image data and a menu screen may be separately provided.

  Further, a push-type operation button such as a momentary switch may be arranged at a position where the display devices 40a and 40b are provided instead of the display devices 40a and 40b. FIG. 9 shows an external view of the digital camera 1 in which operation members 40c and 40d are provided on the back of the digital camera 1. FIG. The digital camera detects that the user is looking into the eyepiece viewfinder 50 when SW1 is turned on and there is an input from the operation member 40c or 40d.

  As mentioned above, although one embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a digital camera has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied to an imaging device such as a single-lens reflex digital camera, a silver salt camera, or a video camera that can be attached to and detached from a lens.

Front view of digital camera 1 Rear view of digital camera 1 Block diagram of digital camera 1 Rear view of digital camera 1 Eyepiece detection Processing flow diagram of digital camera 1 Flow chart of eyepiece processing subroutine Rear view of digital camera 1 with two touch screens Digital camera 1 rear exterior view provided with operation members 40c and 40d

Explanation of symbols

1 Digital Camera 20 Imaging Lens 30 Release Button 40 Display Device 50 Eyepiece Finder

Claims (6)

An eyepiece finder having an eyepiece finder window;
A release button for generating a first operation signal by an operator's manual operation;
An operation member that generates a second operation signal by contacting a part of the face of the operator;
The release button and the operation member are communicably connected to each other and receive the first operation signal and the second operation signal at the same time so that the operator is looking into the eyepiece viewfinder. A camera comprising: a detection unit for detecting. The camera of claim 1,
An eyepiece window of the eyepiece finder and the operation member are provided on the back of the camera body. The camera according to claim 1 or 2,
The operation member has a contact portion that contacts a nose when an operator looks into the eyepiece finder, and generates the second operation signal when the nose of the operator contacts the contact portion. Features a camera. The camera according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The camera, wherein the operation member is a touch panel having an operation surface.   5. The camera according to claim 4, wherein the touch panel is arranged on a display surface of a display unit that displays at least photographing information, and the operation surface is made of a light-transmitting material. The camera according to claim 5, wherein
When the eyepiece state of the operator is detected by the detection unit, display of the display unit is prohibited.