JP2004088317A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera capable of displaying an image that is a very easily viewable image by an operator at any time in any case. <P>SOLUTION: The camera is configured to include: a camera section for photographing an object; a plurality of image output means for outputting a photographed image; an attitude detection means for outputting a photographing attitude information signal of the camera section; an information warning display means for outputting information and a warning to the image output means; and a conversion means for applying conversion such as rotation, magnification, reduction, and parallel movement to output information from the information warning display means. Parameters of the conversion means are modified depending on the photographing attitude information signal outputted from the attitude detection means and an image output destination of the image output means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a camera for displaying and outputting a photographed image and photographing information.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some imaging devices such as digital cameras and video cameras have a display device such as an LCD, and some have a so-called electronic finder that has a finder function by sequentially displaying captured images on a display device. . In addition to displaying the image to be photographed, the electronic viewfinder displays information such as the photographing date and time, camera shutter speed, F-number, magnification, macro photography, etc. to the camera operator, and a camera shake warning. , And a function of displaying a warning such as running out of battery or running out of memory.
[0003]
Some of the imaging devices have a video output terminal. For example, by connecting to a large-sized CRT display, an image that is finer than that displayed on the LCD provided in the camera body is projected, and the subject is focused. In addition to being able to visually recognize whether or not the user is present, it is possible to view images taken by an unspecified number of people at the same time. In the case of external video output as well, information on shooting conditions such as shooting date and time, camera shutter speed, F-number, shooting magnification, macro shooting, etc. is displayed, and at the same time warnings such as camera shake warning, running out of battery, insufficient memory, etc. Can be displayed. These photographing condition display function and warning display function are displayed so that the operator can naturally recognize the camera when the camera is arranged in a horizontal position (hereinafter, referred to as a horizontal posture).
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The photographing posture is not limited to the horizontal posture. For example, when a person is a subject, the photographing is often performed with the camera standing (hereinafter, referred to as a vertical posture). When the camera is photographed in a vertical posture, the information and warning displayed on the electronic finder are output in a horizontal state (FIG. 2). For this reason, there is a problem that information / warning is displayed at an angle that is difficult for the operator to see.
[0005]
Also, when the image of the electronic viewfinder is output to an external monitor, the information and warning displayed together with the captured image are displayed at a natural angle as viewed by the observer, but the captured image is rotated by about 90 degrees. It is displayed as an image. Therefore, the observer is obliged to look at the image while tilting his / her neck, and there is a problem that it is very difficult to see the image (FIG. 3). When the display destination is a display device provided inside the camera, when outputting an image to the outside, and when there are a plurality of display destinations, the display angle of information / warning and the shot image angle indicate the shooting attitude and image at the time of shooting. It is necessary to take into account the display device output destination.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a camera capable of displaying an image which is very easy for an operator to see at any time.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a camera unit for photographing a subject, a plurality of image output units for outputting a photographed image, a posture detecting unit for outputting a photographing posture information signal of the camera unit, A camera comprising: an information warning display unit that outputs the information to the image output unit; and a conversion unit that converts the output information of the information warning display unit such as rotation, enlargement, reduction, or translation. The parameters of the conversion means are changed according to a shooting attitude information signal output from the means and an image output destination of the image output means.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0009]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0010]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a photographing lens, 12 denotes a shutter having an aperture function, 14 denotes an image sensor that converts an optical image into an electric signal, and 16 denotes an A / D converter that converts an analog signal output of the image sensor 14 into a digital signal. It is.
[0011]
Reference numeral 20 denotes a signal processing circuit which is processed by the pixel interpolation processing unit 20a, the color conversion processing unit 20b, the white balance processing unit 20c, and the conversion processing unit 20d, and then transferred to the image display memory 24. Note that the conversion processing unit 20d performs conversion processing such as enlargement, reduction, parallel movement, and rotation of image data. The system can arbitrarily select a conversion process, and may output without performing the process.
[0012]
The image display memory 24 is a memory for storing image data to be displayed on an image display unit 28 incorporated in the camera body or an externally connected video display, and also stores a captured image in a storage device medium 30. It also serves as a buffer to temporarily store data before doing so. The image data stored in the image display memory 24 is converted into an analog signal via a D / A converter 26, and converted into a video signal such as an NTSC and PAL format video signal by the image display unit 28 or the external display device 110. The converted image can be displayed on the video display 300 or the like. By displaying the captured image in real time, an electronic viewfinder function can be realized.
[0013]
Reference numeral 201 denotes an information / warning display unit, which displays information such as the number of images that can be taken, the remaining amount of memory, the remaining amount of battery, and warnings such as camera shake warning, battery exhaustion, memory shortage, and system error display on an LCD or the like. This is a means for displaying a warning in the display area of the display unit 28 or on the video display 300 as well as blinking an unillustrated LED and sounding a buzzer. Information and warnings displayed on the image display unit 28 and the video display 300 generate information warning data by the information / warning display unit 201, and are transferred to and stored in the image display memory 24. The information warning data stored in the image display memory 24 can be converted by the conversion processing unit 20d in the signal processing circuit 20.
[0014]
In this conversion, the information warning data is subjected to conversion such as rotation, enlargement / reduction, and translation in accordance with the camera posture described later. After performing the conversion process, the information warning data is transferred to the image display memory 24 again. The system combines the information warning video memory with the photographed image data, and displays it on the image display unit 28 or the video display 300 through D / A conversion, so that the operator can be notified of the information one by one. I have.
[0015]
Numeral 46 denotes a camera posture detecting means, and its embodiment is shown in FIG. As a switch for detecting gravity, a tilt switch in which a metal ball is sealed in an insulator cylinder and a contact is provided on one end surface is used. Two tilt switches are arranged perpendicular to the optical axis and at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the direction of gravity and at an angle of 90 degrees with each other. When the camera is in the horizontal position (FIG. 7), the tilt switches 210 and 211 are conductive, and when the camera is in the vertical position (FIG. 8), the tilt switch 210 is conductive but the tilt switch 211 is disconnected. .
[0016]
In the case of a vertical position having a rotation angle different from that of FIG. 6B by 180 degrees (FIG. 9), the tilt switch 211 is disconnected but the tilt switch 210 is conductive. As described above, it is possible to detect the camera posture by detecting the conduction and disconnection states of the tilt switches 210 and 211, and the information obtained by the camera posture detection means 46 at the time of shooting is used for image display in the system. In addition to being used as control of the information and warning display means, it is also possible to record in association with the photographed image stored in the storage medium 30. A photographing / playback selection switch 50 allows the operator to select whether to use the camera for photographing or to reproduce the photographed image.
[0017]
Next, the operation of the camera will be described with reference to FIG.
[0018]
A subject image is formed on the light receiving surface of the CCD 14 through the photographing lens 10, and the formed image is output as an analog signal. The output analog signal is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 16 and stored in the image display memory 24. The data in the image display memory 24 is subjected to processing such as pixel interpolation processing, color conversion processing, or white balance to make it easy to visually recognize. Further, the image data is sequentially converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter 26, and a photographed image is displayed on an image display unit 28 such as an LCD, thereby realizing an electronic finder. be able to. At this time, information such as the remaining battery power of the camera, the number of images that can be shot, and a camera shake warning is displayed on the image display unit 28 through the information / warning display unit 201.
[0019]
It is assumed that the operator is in a state where the power of the camera is turned on and an image is to be taken (S001). If the operator presses the shutter release button to start shooting (S002Y), the system shifts to a shooting processing routine (S011). If the subject is being captured and displayed on the electronic finder (S002N), the system detects the camera attitude by the camera attitude detecting means 46 (S003). When the operator holds the camera sideways and the detection result of the camera posture is the horizontal posture (S004Y), no special processing is performed because the posture is the normal posture (S021).
[0020]
When the operator holds the camera vertically and determines that the result of the camera posture detection is the vertical posture (N in S004), the CPU determines the output destination of the captured image and performs processing based on the result. When the captured image output destination is an image display unit such as an LCD attached to the camera body, the posture of the image display unit changes along with the posture of the camera. For this reason, when a warning display is performed, if the warning of the vertical posture is displayed in the same manner as the warning of the horizontal posture, the warning display is difficult for the operator to see (FIG. 2). Therefore, it is necessary to perform appropriate rotation conversion correction on the data to be displayed as a warning, and to provide a display that is easy for the operator to understand.
[0021]
If the camera is standing 90 degrees clockwise when viewed from the back of the camera, that is, from the direction in which the image display unit such as an LCD can be viewed (S031Y), the system is stored in the image display memory 24. A conversion process such as a 90-degree counterclockwise rotation conversion process is performed on the information warning display data (S041). More specifically, parallel movement or enlargement / reduction processing may be performed so as to appropriately display an image on the LCD unit display unit.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 5, when the posture of the camera is 90 degrees counterclockwise when viewed from the back of the camera, that is, from the direction in which the image display unit such as an LCD can be visually recognized (S031N), the information is displayed. Conversion processing such as 90-degree rotation conversion is performed on the warning display data in a clockwise direction (S032). The contents of the conversion processing include the above-described parallel movement and enlargement / reduction processing. Thereafter, the information warning display data and the photographed image are combined (S033) and output to the internal display device (S034).
[0023]
Also, when the photographed image output destination is an external device such as a video display connected to the outside of the camera (S005Y), the posture of the external device often does not change even if the photographing posture of the camera is changed. Therefore, unlike the above case, the display of the information warning is easier for the operator to view without performing the rotation conversion, but the captured image is difficult to see (FIG. 3). Now, it is assumed that the camera posture is a posture rotated clockwise by 90 degrees when viewed from the back of the camera, that is, a direction in which an image display unit such as an LCD can be visually recognized (S007Y). At this time, the system performs a 90-degree clockwise rotation conversion on the captured image data stored in the image display memory 24 (S051), and as shown in FIG. In the case of a posture rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise as viewed from the direction in which the image display unit can be visually recognized (S007N), the captured image data is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise (S008), and the converted image data is converted to an external video. (S010).
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a digital camera or the like having a function of displaying a camera information, a camera shake warning, a battery depletion, a memory shortage, or the like to a camera operator is provided. The information and warning of the electronic viewfinder, which displays the posture of the camera in the vertical posture, determines whether or not to perform rotation processing according to the posture of the camera and the output destination of the information and warning information. The effect of being able to display at any time in any case is obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a camera according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment in a case where vertical posture shooting is performed by a conventional camera.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment in a case where vertical posture shooting is performed by a conventional camera.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment in a case where the camera of the present invention performs vertical posture shooting.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment in a case where the camera of the present invention performs vertical posture shooting.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the camera of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a camera posture detection device according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a posture detection device for a camera according to the present invention.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a camera posture detecting device according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 shooting lens 12 shutter 14 CCD
Reference Signs List 16 A / D converter 20 Image processing circuit 24 Image display memory 26 D / A converter 28 Image display unit 30 Storage device medium 110 External display device 201 Information / warning display means 300 Video display

Claims (5)

A camera unit for photographing a subject, a plurality of image output units for outputting a photographed image, a posture detection unit for outputting a photographing posture information signal of the camera unit, and an information warning display for outputting information / warning to the image output unit Means, a conversion means for converting the output information of the information warning display means, such as rotation, enlargement, reduction, parallel movement, etc., a shooting attitude information signal output from the attitude detection means, A camera, wherein parameters of the conversion means are changed according to an image output destination. When at least one of the plurality of image output units is an external video output, and the image output destination is selected as the external video output, the conversion unit does not perform rotation conversion and outputs information of the information warning display unit. 3. The camera according to claim 1, wherein When at least one of the plurality of image output units is an external video output and the image output destination is selected as the external video output, the conversion unit performs rotation conversion on the output information of the information warning display unit. And outputting the image after performing the conversion such as rotation conversion according to the shooting posture information detected by the posture detecting means for the photographed image obtained from the camera unit. The camera according to claim 1. When at least one output destination of the plurality of image output units is the in-body image output device provided in the camera, and the image output destination is selected as the in-body image output device, the output information of the information warning display unit 2. The camera according to claim 1, wherein output information of the information warning display means is output after the conversion such as rotation conversion is performed according to photographing attitude information detected by the attitude detection means. . When at least one of the plurality of image output units is an in-body image output device provided in the camera and an image output destination is selected as the in-body image output device, the conversion unit includes the information warning display unit. The output information is subjected to rotation conversion according to the shooting posture information detected by the posture detection unit, and the photographed image obtained from the camera unit is not subjected to the conversion such as rotation conversion without performing the conversion. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the camera outputs an image.

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