JPH03198486A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To respectively output image pickup outputs with various aspect ratios even when using a solid-state image pickup element by outputting the image pickup output with the first aspect ratio from the solid-state image pickup element and outputting the image pickup output with the second aspect ratio, which is longitudinally long rather than the first aspect ratio, from a time base extending circuit. CONSTITUTION:A solid-state image pickup element 2 is the solid-state image pickup element such as a CCD equipped with an image pickup surface 2a of the first aspect ratio and the image of an object to be projected through an optics such as an objective lens, etc., to the image pickup surface 2a is picked up at a prescribed cycle based on a timing signal to be applied from a timing signal generation part 3. The image pickup output with the first aspect ratio is outputted from this solid-state image pickup element 2 and the image pickup output with the second aspect ratio, which is longitudinally long rather than the first aspect ratio, is outputted from a time base extending circuit 15 of a signal processing part 10. Thus, even in the case of an image pickup value using the solid-state image pickup element, the image pickup outputs with various aspect ratios can respectively be outputted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to an imaging device such as a television camera device, and an imaging device that forms imaging outputs with different aspect ratios, for example, 16:9 and 4:3. Regarding equipment.

B9 Summary of the Invention The present invention provides an imaging device such as a television camera device in which a solid-state imaging device forms an imaging output having a first aspect ratio, and a gate circuit and a time axis extension circuit increase the imaging output of the solid-state imaging device. from the first aspect ratio to form an imaging output having a second aspect ratio that is vertically longer than the first aspect ratio. It is possible to output imaging outputs of the second aspect ratio.

C0 In conventional television standard systems such as NTSC and PAL, the horizontal to vertical ratio (aspect ratio) of the screen is defined as 4:3. Therefore, in accordance with these systems, imaging devices such as television camera devices have conventionally formed imaging outputs with an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Problems to be Solved by the D3 Invention However, in the second generation EDTV broadcasting that will be realized in the near future, widening the aspect ratio to 16=9 is being considered. For this reason, there is a need for an imaging device that can output imaging output with a different aspect ratio in addition to the imaging output with the current aspect ratio.

However, an imaging device that uses a solid-state imaging device such as a COD to form an image output is different from one that uses an image tube whose aspect ratio can be changed by switching the deflection system. Since the aspect ratio of the imaging output is determined by the aspect ratio, there is a drawback that imaging outputs having a plurality of aspect ratios cannot be formed.

The present invention was proposed in view of the above circumstances, and even in an imaging device using a solid-state imaging device, it is possible to use different aspect ratios such as 16:9 and 4:3 as described above. An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging device with a novel configuration that can output imaging outputs of .

80 Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an imaging device according to the present invention includes a solid-state imaging device that forms an imaging output with a first aspect ratio, and a solid-state imaging device that forms an imaging output with a first aspect ratio. , a gate circuit through which the imaging output for a predetermined period shorter than the horizontal scanning period of the imaging output passes every horizontal scanning period of the imaging output, and an output of this gate circuit is extended on the time axis of the predetermined horizontal scanning period. a time axis expansion circuit, the solid-state imaging device outputs an imaging output with a first aspect ratio, and the time axis expansion circuit outputs an imaging output with a second aspect ratio that is vertically longer than the first aspect ratio. Output.

F0 Effect In the imaging device according to the present invention, the solid-state imaging device forms and outputs an imaging output having a first aspect ratio.

Further, an imaging output having a first aspect ratio formed by the solid-state imaging device is guided to a gate circuit, and an imaging output for a predetermined period shorter than a horizontal scanning period of this imaging output among the imaging outputs is inputted to the imaging output. By passing through every horizontal scanning period, a portion that becomes an imaging output having a second aspect ratio that is vertically longer than the first aspect ratio is extracted.

Then, this extracted part is guided to the time axis expansion circuit,
The display image is expanded from the scanning time axis of the solid-state imaging device to the time axis of a predetermined horizontal scanning period so as not to cause distortion in the displayed image, and is output as an image pickup output having the second aspect ratio.

Here, the above 1. The second aspect ratio is, for example,
The above-mentioned 16:9 and 4=3.

G. Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an imaging device 1 according to the present invention.

This imaging device 1 performs a second
As shown by A in the figure, the aspect ratio is 16:9 (hereinafter referred to as the first aspect ratio).

), and the aspect ratio of the screen W is 4:3 (hereinafter referred to as the second image) as shown by F in FIG.
The aspect ratio shall be . ) and the image pickup output of the screen N, respectively.

The solid-state imaging device 2 is a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD having an imaging surface 2a having the first aspect ratio.
The image of the subject projected on is captured at a predetermined period based on the timing signal given from the timing signal generator 3. Further, a light-shielding region 2b is provided at the horizontal end of the imaging surface 2a, and this light-shielding region 2b provides an optical black level.

The imaging output formed by the solid-state imaging device 2 is output line-sequentially from the horizontal register section 2C, sampled and held in the sample-and-hold circuit 4, and then the optical black level is clamped in the clamp circuit 5. The imaging output with the first aspect ratio is the image output with the aspect ratio of The signal is applied to a signal processing section 10 composed of a circuit 15.

The imaging output of the first aspect ratio given to the signal processing section 10 is transmitted from the input terminal 16 to the A/D conversion circuit 11.
After being converted into a digital imaging signal in a predetermined formant, the signal is applied to the switching circuit 12.

Further, the imaging output having the first aspect ratio is also given to the gate circuit 13 from the input terminal 16 . For example, as shown by B in FIG. 2, this imaging output is a video signal SVI and an optical black signal S, which are repeated every horizontal scanning period T of the screen W.

The gate circuit 13 also has a horizontal scanning period T8 of a screen n having the same aspect ratio as the screen N that can be extracted from the screen W, and the optical black signal S, as shown by C in FIG. For example, a high (H) level signal is applied from the timing signal generation circuit 3 every horizontal scanning period T1 of the imaging output of the first aspect ratio. This gate circuit 13
passes through the imaging output of the first aspect ratio given via the input terminal 16 in accordance with the signal from the timing signal generation circuit 3. Therefore, as shown by D in FIG. 2, the horizontal scanning period of the screen n is T! The video signal SVt of , and the optical black signal S of the optical non-period T are outputted from this gate circuit 13 .

The output of this gate circuit 13 is the output of the A/D conversion circuit 14.
After the signal is converted into a digital signal in a predetermined format, it is applied to the time axis expansion circuit 15.

The time axis expansion circuit 15 is a random video signal expansion circuit in which the data write speed and data read speed are independently controlled.
It is configured using access memory (RAM),
The output of the gate circuit 13 from which the digital image signal has been converted by the A/D conversion circuit 14 is transferred to the video signal RA.
Then, the video signal SVZ of the horizontal scanning period T8 of the screen n and the optical black signal S of the optical non-period T are read out in the horizontal scanning period T4 of the screen N. As a result, the imaging output of the above screen n is
The time axis is expanded so that the image pickup output of the screen N is obtained as shown by E in FIG. 2. By extending the time axis of the I-layer image output in this manner, it is possible to prevent distortion from occurring in the displayed image.

The output of this time axis expansion circuit 15 is given to the switching circuit 12.

When the imaging device 1 is used to obtain an imaging output with the first aspect ratio, the switching circuit 12
The output of the A/D conversion circuit 11 is supplied to an output terminal 17. Further, this switching circuit 12 is configured so that this imaging device l is
When used to obtain an imaging output with an aspect ratio of , the output of the time axis expansion circuit 15 is supplied to the output terminal 17.

Therefore, this imaging device 1 outputs an imaging output having a first aspect ratio corresponding to the screen W and an imaging output having a second aspect ratio corresponding to the screen N to the output terminal 1.
7 can be output respectively.

FIG. 3 shows the signal processing unit l used in the imaging device 1 of this embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another configuration example of O.

The above-mentioned signal processing section 10 performs the above-mentioned first. The imaging output of the second aspect ratio was separately converted into a digital imaging signal by each A/D conversion circuit 11.14, but in the signal processing section 20 shown in FIG. After converting the imaging output with an aspect ratio of 1 into a digital imaging signal by the A/Di conversion circuit 21, the gate circuit 22 and the time axis expansion circuit 23 form an imaging output with a second aspect ratio. The output of the conversion circuit 21 and the output of the time axis expansion circuit 23 are outputted via a switching circuit 24. By doing so, the number of A/D conversion circuits can be reduced to one, and the gate circuit 22 and the time axis expansion circuit 23 can be configured by a common digital signal processing circuit. The imaging device according to the invention can be configured in a simple manner.

Further, in the above embodiment, the function of the gate circuit 13.22 and the function of the time axis expansion circuit 15.23 are separated, but for example, the first By writing all the imaging outputs of the aspect ratio to the video signal RAM, and reading out the necessary parts with time axis expansion so that they become the imaging outputs of the second aspect ratio, both of the above functions can be achieved at the same time. It is possible to do so.

H0 Effects of the Invention In the imaging device according to the present invention, the solid-state imaging device forms and outputs an imaging output having a first aspect ratio, and the gate circuit forms and outputs an imaging output having a vertically longer aspect ratio than the first aspect ratio. A portion that becomes an imaging output with an aspect ratio of 2 is extracted, and is expanded on the time axis of a predetermined horizontal scanning period by a time axis expansion circuit to form and output an imaging output with the second aspect ratio.

Therefore, even if the imaging device according to the present invention uses a solid-state imaging device, it can output imaging outputs with different aspect ratios.

For this reason, this imaging device has an aspect ratio of 16:9, which will be realized in the near future, in addition to the imaging output of the current television standard system with an aspect ratio of 4=3.
It is very convenient because it can output the imaging output of television broadcasting.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the above embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of another configuration example of the signal processing section constituting the above embodiment. It is a diagram. ...Imaging device...Solid-state image sensor 0.20...Signal processing section 1.14.21...A/D conversion circuit 2.24...Switching circuit 3.22...Gate circuit 5 .23...Time axis expansion circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] A solid-state imaging device that forms an imaging output with a first aspect ratio; A gate circuit through which the image pickup output passes every horizontal scanning period, and a time axis expansion circuit that expands the output of the gate circuit onto the time axis of a predetermined horizontal scanning period, In addition to outputting the imaging output,
An imaging device that outputs an imaging output having a second aspect ratio that is vertically longer than the first aspect ratio from the time axis expansion circuit.