JPH0822042B2 - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic camera, that is, a camera for electronically recording an optical image, and in particular to an electronic device having a recording unit using a non-solid state memory such as a disc as a recording means. It's about the camera.

[Prior Art] A conventional device of this type includes an image pickup unit for converting an optical image into an electric signal and a disk recording unit for electronically or magnetically recording the electric signal.

Alternatively, in order to make up for the drawbacks of this type of device, a recording means provided with a solid-state memory instead of the disk recording part has been used.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above conventional techniques have the following drawbacks.

First of all, the following are the decisive points in the case where the disk recording unit is provided as the recording means.

(1) The recording disk and the disk drive for driving the recording disk have a certain size, and there is a limit to downsizing the entire camera.

(2) A certain time width is required for the rise time of the disc rotation when the image recording is started, and the image is sent at the shooting timing.

(3) The current consumption required for the disk servo is relatively large, and the time during which the disk servo is operated unnecessarily is long.

(4) Waterproofing the camera housing due to the need for disk replacement,
A dust-proof structure must be applied, resulting in high cost.

On the other hand, the drawbacks of the electronic camera using the solid-state memory as the recording means are as follows.

(1) It is difficult to increase the memory capacity to a certain amount or more, and the limit value of the number of captured images is small as compared with that using a disk.

(2) There is also a limit to the reduction of imaging cost because of the limit of memory cost reduction.

(3) In a semiconductor memory or the like, electric power is required to hold data of an optical image once recorded, and it is difficult to permanently store the data.

(4) If the memory pack is replaced in order to overcome the limit of the number of images to be taken, the camera housing must be waterproof and dustproof, resulting in high cost.

[Means for Solving Problems] Accordingly, the present invention provides an image pickup means for converting an optical image into an electric signal, a voice input means, and a time axis compression means for time axis compression of the voice input from the voice input means. And a common solid-state memory capable of holding both the image signal from the image pickup means and the time-axis compressed audio signal from the time-axis compression means as digital signals for a long time, and the output of the solid-state memory to the outside. An image pickup unit including a first electrical contact for engaging with an external device and a first engaging unit for engaging with an external device, an external memory unit having a storage capacity larger than that of the solid-state memory, and the external memory unit including the external memory unit. A recording signal processing circuit for recording a signal transferred from the image pickup section, a second engagement section for being integrated by engaging with the image pickup section, and the second engagement section Is provided in the vicinity of the An external recording device having a second electric contact arranged at a position electrically connected to the first electric contact when the second engaging part is engaged with the first engaging part And a predetermined recording start switch is turned on as the second engaging portion is engaged with the first engaging portion of the image pickup portion, so that the first and second electrical contacts are provided. And a control means for transferring the contents of the solid-state memory to the external memory means.

Embodiments Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an example of an electronic camera related to the present invention.

The electronic camera of this example basically comprises an image pickup section 1 and a disk recording section 2.

In the image pickup unit 1, 3 is a lens, and 4 is an image pickup element that forms an optical image from the lens 3 and converts it into an electric signal to obtain an image signal, which includes CCD, MOS, an image pickup tube, or other well-known image pickup means. There is. A signal processing circuit 5 processes an image signal from the image sensor.

Reference numeral 6 is an A / D converter, and 7 is a frame memory for storing one frame period of a digitized image signal from the A / D converter. The frame memory 7 may be a field memory if necessary. A volatile DRAM is suitable for the frame memory 7. Therefore, a changeover switch 8 is provided between the A / D converter 6 and the frame memory 7, and the incoming image signal is recorded in the frame memory 7 one after another. When the contact a is "on", it is necessary to keep the recorded signal as it is, and the contact b is "on".
The signal recorded as is circulated.

A D / A converter 9 is provided in the disc recording unit 2 and converts the digitized image signal read out from the frame memory 7 into an analog signal.

 A monitor 10 displays the image signal as a visible image.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a second changeover switch, which monitors the "raw" image signals picked up by the image pickup device 4 and sent one after another through the signal processing circuit 5 when the contact a is turned "on".
Send to 10 and display. At this time, the monitor 10 functions as the viewfinder of the camera.

On the other hand, when the contact b is turned on, the image signal of the frame memory 7 is sent to the monitor 10 via the D / A converter 9.
Sent to and displayed on the monitor 10.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a clock driver that distributes and supplies the clock pulse from the clock generator 13 to the image sensor 4, the signal processing circuit 5, the A / D converter 6, the frame memory 7, the D / A converter 9, the monitor 10, and the like. Each device inside is driven and operated by this.

A system controller 14 controls switching of the contacts of the changeover switch 8 and the second changeover switch 11 in accordance with the timing given by the release switch 15. System controller 14 and clock generator 13
It is driven by the clock from.

16 is a main switch, which controls the start / stop of the system controller.

Reference numeral 17 is a power source, and 18 is a power switch. Power from the power source 17 is supplied to each device of the imaging unit 1 and the disk recording unit 2.

Next, in the disc recording unit 2, 19 is a recording signal processing circuit, which performs signal processing for supplying an image signal on the frame memory 7 converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 9 to a recording disc described later. .

20 is a recording disk. As the disk medium, a magnetic sheet is used, but another medium, an optical recording medium or a magneto-optical recording medium may be used.

21 is an FM modulator, when the recording disk is a magnetic medium
The analog image signal from the D / A converter 9 is sent to the recording disk 20 as an FM signal.

A recording / reproducing amplifier 22 is used for amplifying a signal when recording a signal on the magnetic disk 20 and for amplifying a signal when a signal described later is reproduced.

Reference numeral 23 is a recording / reproducing head, which is used for inputting / outputting a signal to / from the recording disk 20.

Reference numeral 24 is an FM modulator for demodulating the FM signal of the reproduction signal from the recording / reproducing amplifier 22, and the analog image signal which is the output thereof is supplied to the camera signal processing circuit 5 of the image pickup section 1. Therefore, the reproduction signal reproduced from the recording disk 20 can be displayed on the monitor 10 in the same manner as the image signal from the image pickup device 4.

FIG. 2 shows the outer shape of this electronic camera.
The same reference numerals as those shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 are used.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 25 is a joint including a contact group 26 for electrically connecting the image pickup unit 1 and the disc recording unit 2.

Since this electronic camera is configured as described above, it operates as follows.

The operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step # 1, the main switch 16 is turned on.
The system controller 14 is enabled to operate.

Then, in step # 2, the power switch 18 is turned on, and the changeover switch 8 and the second changeover switch 11 are brought into contact with the contact a.
Connect to. In this step, electric power is supplied from the power supply 17 to each unit, and each unit starts operating.

At this time, the optical image of each field passes through the lens 3 and the image sensor 4
If it is projected on the screen, it is converted into an electric image signal, and the image signal is monitored via the contact point a of the second changeover switch 11.
It is supplied to 10 and displayed on the screen of monitor 10. That is, in this step, the monitor 10 functions as the viewfinder of the camera.

On the other hand, in the system controller 14, the synchronizing signal is generated by the clock signal from the clock generator 13, but as shown in FIG. 3B, the vertical synchronizing signal VD is generated every frame period V. .

When the frame memory 7 is a field memory, the generation cycle of the vertical synchronizing signal VD is set to 1 / 2V.

Here, when the release switch 15 is turned on in step # 3, the system controller 14 is driven and the vertical synchronizing signal VD is supplied to the changeover switch 8 and the second changeover switch 11. Here, when the vertical synchronizing signal VD falls (step # 4), the changeover switch 8 and the second switch
The contact of the selector switch 11 is switched to the side b (step # 5). Then, the signal data on the frame memory 7 circulates through the contact point b, the image is fixed, and the image is frozen (frozen).
This frozen image is the contact b of the second changeover switch 11.
Is supplied to the monitor 10 and displayed.

At the same time, it is sent to the disc recording unit 2 via the D / A converter 9 and the frozen image for one frame is recorded on the recording disc 20.

At this time, the image signal is temporarily recorded in the frame memory 7 and then transferred to the recording disk 20, so that the time axis correction is performed.

When the next image is to be picked up again, the release switch 15 is pressed again (step # 6), and the state where step # 1 is completed is returned to. Release 15 again
When “ON” is set to “ON”, the subsequent operations are sequentially performed and the next screen is recorded on the recording disk 20.

Since the image signals of the frame memory 7 are sequentially transferred to the recording disk, the number of images that can be picked up by the image pickup unit 1 is increased.

The storage capacity of the frame memory 7 is a very limited number of frames, but if the memory capacity will dramatically increase in the future, several tens or more images can be recorded.

Even in that case, an alarm is issued when the number of recordable sheets in the frame memory 7 is reduced.

In this electronic camera, the image recorded on the recording disk 20 can also be displayed on the monitor 10 via the signal processing circuit 5, so that the image stored on the recording disk 20 can also be observed.

In this electronic camera, the camera is divided into the image pickup unit 1 and the disk recording unit 2 as described above, and the frame memory 7
Since the image signal is transferred to the disc recording unit 2 after the image is stored in, the photo opportunity is not missed by the delay of the start timing of the recording disc 20. Further, not only can the image pickup unit 1 be made compact and lightweight, but when the peak power is reduced in order to reduce the power supply load of the image pickup unit 1, the signal is read out from the image pickup device at a low speed and once stored in the frame memory 7. Therefore, it is possible to increase the number of shootable images as compared with the conventional case even if the batteries having the same capacity are used. Once in the frame memory, the image pickup unit 1 and the disc recording unit 2 can be combined to transfer the image of the frame memory 7 to the recording disc 20 at a normal speed.

Further, since the contents of the frame memory 7 can be reproduced and displayed on the monitor 10 via the D / A converter 9, when it is found that the image is an unnecessary image, a change should be made so that a new image is put in the portion of the recording disk 20. Is also possible.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a second example of the electronic camera related to the present invention. Since the parts denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 operate in the same manner as in the first example, the description thereof will not be repeated. Further, among the necessary circuits shown in detail in FIG. 1, some circuits are omitted from the display, but the image pickup unit 1 has the same configuration operation as that of the first example.

FIG. 5 shows an external view of the second example. In FIGS. 4 and 5, reference numeral 27 is an output terminal for externally extracting the image signal, and the same image signal displayed on the monitor 10 can be extracted by the cable 28 and reproduced and displayed on the television monitor 29. .

The switch 30 is a switch for controlling activation of the recording / reproducing amplifier 22, and is for selecting whether or not to record the image on the frame memory 7 of the image pickup unit 1 on the disk 23.
For example, if you press lightly, it moves to the next image in the frame memory 7 without being transcribed, and if you press hard, the current image in the frame memory 7 is transcribed.
20 also shifts the operation to capture and record a new image.

Of course, the contents of the frame memory 7 of the image pickup unit may be automatically transferred immediately after the image pickup unit 1 and the disk recording unit 2 are combined. At such times,
It is easy to increase and display the number of recordable frames in the frame memory 7. Although the coupling between the image pickup unit 1 and the disc recording unit 2 is illustrated in particular, it goes without saying that either wire coupling or wireless coupling may be used.

In this second example, the monitor 10 is provided in the disc recording unit 2.

Reference numeral 31 is a reproduction signal processing circuit, a reproduction image signal from the FM demodulator 24, an image signal on the frame memory 7 from the D / A converter 9, and an input image signal supplied from the image sensor 4 via the signal processing circuit 5. Is supplied to the monitor 10 and the output terminal 27.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

In this case as well, the parts given the same numbers as in the first example are the same, so description will be omitted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an external view.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, 32 is a microphone and 33 is a microphone 32.
The audio processing circuit performs processing such as time compression of the audio signal from.

Reference numeral 34 is a speaker for reproducing an audio signal. In this embodiment, an audio signal as well as an image signal can be recorded.

That is, the audio signal picked up by the microphone 32 is time-axis compressed by the audio processing circuit 33, and the image pickup device 4
Is converted into a time-axis compressed audio signal in the same frequency band as the image signal from.

This time-axis compressed audio signal contains the same amount of information in a short time as an audio signal having a longer time, and this signal is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 6,
It is recorded in the frame memory 7.

Further, this time-axis compressed audio signal is transcribed on the recording disk 20 as in the case of the image signal.

When playing, the FM demodulator 24
Then, it is extracted as a time-axis compressed audio signal, expanded on the time axis in the reproduction signal processing circuit 31, restored to an audio signal of a normal band and a normal time length, and the speaker 34
Will be played.

Here, it goes without saying that the microphone 32 and the monitor 10 may be provided in either the image pickup unit 1 or the disc recording unit 2, or both.

Next, a third example of the electronic camera related to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the third example, and FIG. 9 is an external view, and the portions denoted by the same reference numerals are the same as those of the other examples, and therefore description thereof will be omitted.

Reference numeral 35 is a telephone transmission unit, and 36 is an image pickup unit 1 and a telephone transmission unit.
Reference numeral 37 is a member for connecting 35, and 37 is a contact group for electrical connection.

38 and 39 are terminals for interfacing with the telephone receiver 40, respectively, and voice couplers 41 and 4 facing the receiver 40.
Connected to 2.

That is, by turning on a recording start switch (not shown) as the engaging portion of the disc recording portion is engaged with the engaging portion of the image capturing portion, a recording / reproducing amplifier serving as a control unit.
The content of the solid-state memory (frame memory 7) is transferred to the external memory means (magnetic disk 20) via the electrical contacts of the imaging section and the disk recording section by 22. As a result, the camera portion can be downsized, and a system excellent in immediacy and power consumption can be obtained.

The telephone transmission section 35 is provided with a terminal 43 for data input / output, and can control the frame memory 7 via the transmission signal processing circuit 44 to output image signal data in the frame memory 7. This portion 43 may be a general microcomputer terminal, and may be connected to a display for a microcomputer, a printer, a disk memory, etc. by a known method.

The audio signal from the microphone 32, the image signal from the image pickup device 4, the image signal recorded in the frame memory 7 and the time-axis compressed audio signal are modulated by the modulation / demodulation circuit 45 via the transmission signal processing circuit 44, Converted to carrier signal, terminal
Telephone transmission via 38 and 39.

Similarly, when the image signals picked up at other points and the picked up audio signals are transmitted through the telephone line, they are input from terminals 38 and 39, and the modulation / demodulation circuit
The signal is demodulated at 45, put into the base band, and arrives at the image pickup unit 1 via the transmission signal processing circuit 44. In the image pickup unit 1, the image is recorded in the frame memory 7, and thereafter, it is recorded and displayed as already described.

Here, an example in which the image pickup unit 1 and the telephone transmission unit 35 are connected has been described, but it goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained even if the disk recording unit 2 and the telephone transmission unit 35 are connected.

The solid-state memory is a non-mechanical access for recording and reproduction, and includes a magnetic bubble memory and the like.

The non-solid-state memory is a memory that mechanically performs access for recording and reproduction, and includes a VTR and the like.

[Effect] As described above, according to the present invention, since the sound is time-axis compressed in the imaging unit and then input to the solid-state memory, the sound and the image can be stored in the common solid-state memory. .

Further, according to the present invention, when importance is attached to portability, the external recording device can be used by removing it from the image pickup unit, and at the same time, a relatively small amount of image and sound can be recorded without carrying the external recording device. An extremely small electronic camera that can hold records for a long time can be realized. On the other hand, when recording a large amount of data, by engaging an external recording device with the imaging unit and integrating them, operability and portability are improved. It is possible to realize an electronic camera capable of capturing an image without significantly deteriorating.

Moreover, according to the present invention, since the external recording device has the control means for transferring the contents of the solid-state memory device to the external memory device as the external recording device is engaged with the image pickup section, for example, the external recording device is removed. If you want to record multiple images and sound using only the imaging unit in this state, and then want to capture more images and record them with sound, simply engage the external recording device with the imaging unit. Since the contents of the solid-state memory means are transferred to the external memory means in the external recording device, the next image pickup can be performed immediately, and there is an advantage that a photo opportunity is not missed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first example of an electronic camera relating to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view thereof, FIG. 3 is a flow chart and waveform chart showing the operation, and FIG. 4 is an electronic diagram relating to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a second example of a camera, FIG. 5 is an external view thereof, FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is an external view thereof, and FIG. 8 is an electronic camera related to the present invention. FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a third example, and FIG. 9 is an external view thereof. 1 ... Imaging unit, 2 ... Disk recording unit, 3 ... Lens, 4 ... Imaging device, 5 ... Signal processing circuit, 6 ... A / D converter, 7 ...
Frame memory, 8 ... Changeover switch, 9 ... D / A converter, 10 ... Monitor, 11 ... Changeover switch, 12 ... Clock driver, 13 ... Clock generator, 14 ... System controller, 15 ... Release switch, 16 ... Main switch, 17 … Power supply, 18… Power switch, 19… Recording signal processing circuit, 20… Recording disk, 21… FM modulator, 22… Recording /
Playback amplifier, 23 ... Recording / playback head, 24 ... FM demodulator, 25
... Joint, 26 ... Contact group, 27 ... Output terminal, 28 ... Cable, 29 ... TV monitor, 30 ... Switch, 31 ... Playback signal processing circuit, 32 ... Microphone, 33 ... Voice processing circuit, 34 ... Speaker, 35 ... Telephone Transmission unit, 36 ... Member, 37 ... Contact group, 38, 39
... terminals, 40 ... receivers, 41, 42 ... voice couplers, 43 ... data input / output terminals, 44 ... transmission signal processing circuits, 45 ... modulation / demodulation circuits.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means for converting an optical image into an electric signal,
A voice input means, a time axis compression means for time axis compression of the voice input from the voice input means, a digital signal together with the image signal from the imaging means and the time axis compressed audio signal from the time axis compression means. Including a common solid-state memory capable of holding for a long time, a first electrical contact for outputting the output of the solid-state memory to the outside, and a first engaging portion for engaging with an external device Section, an external memory means having a storage capacity larger than that of the solid-state memory, a recording signal processing circuit for recording a signal transferred from the imaging section to the external memory means, and the engagement with the imaging section A second engaging portion for integration with the second engaging portion, and the second engaging portion is provided in the vicinity of the second engaging portion and engages with the first engaging portion of the imaging unit. When electrically connected to the first electrical contact An external recording device having a second electric contact arranged at a position, and a predetermined recording start when the second engaging portion is engaged with the first engaging portion of the imaging unit. An electronic camera, comprising: a control unit that transfers the contents of the solid-state memory to the external memory unit via the first and second electrical contacts by turning on a switch.