JPH0822043B2 - 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 drawbacks of the disk recording unit provided as the recording means are as follows.

(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) Since it is necessary to replace the disc, the camera housing must be provided with a waterproof and dustproof structure, 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 exceed the limit of the number of images to be taken, the camera body must be waterproof and dustproof, resulting in high cost.

[Means for Solving Problems] Accordingly, the present invention provides an image pickup means (4) for converting an optical image into an electric signal, and a solid-state memory (7) capable of holding an image signal from the image pickup means for a long time. A first electrical connection means (37) for outputting the output of the solid-state memory to the outside and receiving a signal for controlling the solid-state memory from the outside, and a first electrical connection means (37) for engaging with an external device. Engagement part (3
And a signal processing circuit (44) for processing a signal transferred from the solid-state memory and supplying a control signal for controlling the solid-state memory.
A second engaging portion for being integrated by engaging with the image pickup portion, and provided in the vicinity of the second engaging portion,
Second electrical connecting means arranged at a position to be electrically connected to the first electrical connecting means when the second engaging portion is engaged with the first engaging portion of the imaging unit. And an external signal processing device (35) having a control electric terminal (43) for supplying a signal for externally controlling the solid-state memory of the imaging unit to the signal processing circuit. And

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 a first 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 signals are recorded in the frame memory 7 one after another. When the contact a is turned on, the signal recorded once is kept on, and when it is necessary to hold the recorded signal as it is, the contact b is turned on and the recorded signal is circulated.

A D / A converter 9 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 9, the monitor 10, and the like, and each device in the image pickup unit 1 is driven and operated by this. To do.

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.

The system controller 14 is also driven by the clock from the clock generator 13.

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 other medium, an optical recording medium or a magneto-optical 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.

Here, when recording the signal, it is possible to record the digital signal as it is without converting the image signal into an analog signal by the D / A converter 9. At that time, the signal to be recorded is directly supplied to the disc recording unit 2 without passing through the D / A converter 9.

When the digital signal is directly recorded on the recording disk 20, the recording signal processing circuit 19 performs signal processing necessary for processing the direct current component in the signal. Then FM modulator
21 can be omitted. If the image signal is recorded by a digital signal, the image quality is better than that by the analog signal and the apparatus can be simplified.

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.

Reference numeral 32 is a microphone, and 33 is an audio processing circuit for performing processing such as time-axis compression of the audio signal from the microphone 32.

Reference numeral 34 is a speaker that corrects the audio signal. In this example, an audio signal can be recorded together with an image signal.

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

This time-base compressed audio signal contains the same amount of information in a short time as in a longer audio signal.
It is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 6 and 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 34, and 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.

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.

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.

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.

In this electronic camera, the image recorded on the recording disk 23 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
After storing the image and the time-axis-compressed audio signal, the image signal and the audio signal are transferred to the disk recording unit 2. Therefore, the shutter opportunity can be missed by the start timing of the recording disk 20. There is no. Also,
Not only can the image pickup unit 1 be configured to be small and lightweight, but when the peak power is reduced in order to reduce the power supply load of the image pickup unit 1, it is possible to read the signal from the image pickup device 4 at a low speed and once put it 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 and sound of the frame memory 7 to the recording disc 19 at a normal speed.

Also, 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 new image is inserted in that portion of the recording disk 20. It 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 an image signal, and the same image signal displayed on the monitor 10 is taken out by a cable 28 so that it can be 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 not particularly shown, it goes without saying that either wire coupling or wireless coupling may be used.

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

The reproduction signal processing circuit 31 outputs the reproduction image signal from the FM demodulator 24, the image signal on the frame memory 7 from the D / A converter 9, and the input image signal supplied from the image sensor 4 via the signal processing circuit 5. In addition to supplying it to the monitor 10 and the output terminal 27, it also expands the time axis of the time axis compressed audio signal as described above.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an external view, and the portions denoted by the same reference numerals are the same as other examples, and therefore description thereof will be omitted.

Reference numeral 35 is a telephone, 36 is a member for connecting the image pickup 1 and the telephone 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.

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 non-mechanically accessed 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.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, when importance is attached to portability, the external signal processing device is used while being detached from the image pickup unit, and the image is relatively small while the external signal processing device is not carried. It is possible to realize an extremely small electronic camera that can record and hold records for a long time.
On the other hand, a signal processing circuit for performing various signal processing for supplying the contents of the solid-state memory to a printer, a display for a microcomputer, a disk memory, etc., and a signal for supplying a signal for controlling the solid-state memory, and a control electric terminal are provided. Since the external signal processing device that the user has is configured to be engageable with the image capturing unit, and when the external signal processing device is engaged with the image capturing unit, an electrical connection is made between the two. The function of a small electronic camera can be easily and significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first example of an electronic camera related to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view thereof, FIG. 3 is a flowchart and waveform chart showing the operation, and FIG. 4 is related to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a second example of the electronic camera, FIG. 5 is an external view thereof, FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 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 modulator, 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 (4) for converting an optical image into an electric signal, a solid-state memory (7) capable of holding an image signal from the image pickup means for a long time, and an output of the solid-state memory is outputted to the outside. And first electrical connection means (37) for receiving a signal for controlling the solid-state memory from the outside
A first engaging portion (36) for engaging an external device,
An image pickup unit (1) including a signal processing circuit (44) for processing a signal transferred from the solid-state memory and supplying a control signal for controlling the solid-state memory; 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 the second engaging portion is engaged with the first engaging portion of the imaging unit. The signal processing circuit outputs a signal for externally controlling the solid-state memory of the image pickup unit and the second electrical connection unit arranged at a position electrically connected to the first electrical connection unit when combined. And an external signal processing device (35) having a control electric terminal (43) for supplying to the electronic camera.