JP2005333420A - Electronic camera apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that an apparatus for automatically photographing a moving object cannot be obtained in a constitution having superior portability. <P>SOLUTION: The movement (change) of a photography image is monitored. When the image moves, photography is automatically started, thus automatically photographing the moving object. In the constitution of this embodiment, for example, an electronic camera apparatus such as a digital camera can be installed therein, thus achieving superior portability. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera device having an automatic shutter operation.

  In recent years, electronic camera devices have been required to have multiple functions.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a self-timer function is well known as a function for automatically taking an image on an electronic camera device.
JP 2001-215604 A

  However, the self-timer function takes only a few tens of seconds from when the subject presses the shutter button until the start of shooting, and has only a certain time to leave the electronic camera device.

  Therefore, there is a problem that the timer time is insufficient to shoot sports scenes such as skis and bicycles, and the shutter does not always release with good timing when passing immediately before the electronic camera device. It was.

  Further, as an apparatus for automatically photographing sports movements, an apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-215604 is known, but since it is a release that is attached to a digital still camera, it is disadvantageous for carrying. There was a drawback that it was not easy to handle.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to provide an electronic camera device having a configuration in which a change in motion of a subject is detected and a shutter is automatically released.

  In order to achieve this object, an electronic camera device according to the present invention includes an imaging unit that converts an optical image into an electrical signal, an image signal capturing unit that captures an image signal from the imaging unit at regular intervals, and the image signal capturing. A signal comparing means for comparing the image signal captured by the means with the image signal previously captured; a command generating means for issuing a next operation command corresponding to the state of the signal compared by the signal comparing means; An image recording means for recording a video in response to a command from the command generating means, and comparing the captured image signal with the previous signal and releasing the shutter if there is a difference between the signals have.

  With this configuration, a subject that has just crossed the electronic camera device is photographed.

  As described above, the present invention can provide an excellent effect that even if it is unattended, the user's own sports scene can be photographed on the electronic camera device. In addition, since it can be photographed unattended, it can be used for automatic photographing of wild animals and as a surveillance camera.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging means for converting an optical image into an electrical signal, an image signal capturing means for capturing an image signal from the imaging means at regular intervals, and the captured image signal. A signal comparison means for comparing with an image signal captured one time before, a command generation means for issuing a next operation command corresponding to the state of the compared signal, and a video according to a command from the command generation means And an image recording means, and has an effect that a subject crossing just before the electronic camera device is photographed.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the command generating means is configured so that the time until the image recording means records an image can be arbitrarily set, and corresponds to the operation speed of the subject. It has the effect that a subtle photo opportunity can be set.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the command generating means instructs the image recording means to record an image and the auxiliary issuing means such as a strobe can be operated, so that the subject can be captured more clearly. I can do it.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the operation of the signal comparison means is configured to start the signal comparison operation after a lapse of a certain time after operating the photographing start button means of the electronic camera device. The start button means is operated to prevent a failure such as shooting while leaving the electronic camera device.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the image recording means is provided with an operation state in which images are continuously recorded, and continuous moving image shooting is possible.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic camera device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an image pickup means for picking up a subject image and converting it from an optical signal to an electric signal, and is composed of a lens, a CCD camera and the like. Reference numeral 12 denotes an image signal capturing unit, which is configured by a circuit that handles the image signal captured by the imaging unit 10. Reference numeral 14 denotes a shooting start button which can be operated by a user at a desired timing. Pressing this button starts shooting. The shooting start button 14 is operated to record an image signal in the image recording means 16 at the same time as being pressed in accordance with a mode selected in advance, or to record the image signal by capturing the movement of the subject which is the content of the present invention. The operation of the start button to do is performed. In the embodiment of the present invention, the imaging start button 14 is activated by the imaging means 10 after the time set in advance by the start timer 22 after the imaging start button 14 is operated.

  An image signal capturing unit 12 captures an image signal from the imaging unit 10 and sends it to the signal comparing unit 18. This image capture can cope with the fast movement of the subject as the number of captures per second increases. Reference numeral 18 denotes a signal comparison unit that stores the image signal captured by the image signal capture unit 12 and compares it with the previously captured image signal to detect the motion of the image. Reference numeral 20 denotes command generation means for instructing image recording to the image recording means 16 in accordance with the contents of the image signals compared by the signal comparison means 18. Further, a signal for causing the strobe 24 to emit light is generated depending on the user's selection. A recording timer 26 transmits a recording command signal from the command generating means 20 to the image recording means 16 after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  In the present embodiment, portability is improved by adopting the above configuration in a configuration of one electronic camera device.

  The operation of the electronic camera device of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 shows an example using the electronic camera device of the present embodiment, and an example in the case of photographing a traveling car in an unattended state will be described.

  In FIG. 2, 30 is a road, and the electronic camera device 32 of the present invention is set in the vicinity of the B position. The angle of view of the electronic camera device 32 is in the range indicated by C. A user of the electronic camera device 32 tries to take a picture of the electronic camera device 32 at the B position by driving the automobile 34 from the A position to the B position.

  First, the automobile 34 is parked at the A position, and the driver moves to the B position on foot to set the electronic camera device 32. The shooting mode of the electronic camera device 32 is set to the mode of the present invention (moving object shooting mode), and the shooting start button 14 is pressed to leave the spot. At that time, since the start timer 22 operates for a few seconds while the driver moves within the range indicated by the angle of view C of the electronic camera device 32, the user is not detected and the car 34 at the A position is detected. Can head to.

  After the predetermined time set by the start timer 22 elapses, the electronic camera device 32 starts to operate. However, if the subject operating during the angle of view C is not detected, the image signal capturing unit 12 captures the image from the imaging unit 10. Even if the image signal is compared with the previously acquired signal by the signal comparison means 18, it does not change every time, and is determined to be the same image, and no image is taken.

  Next, the driver gets into the automobile 34 at position A and starts running the automobile 34. When the automobile 34 moves to the B position and appears at the angle of view C of the electronic camera device 32, the image signal captured by the image signal capturing means 12 from the imaging means 10 is the same as the signal previously captured by the signal comparison means 18. It will be compared and judged to be “different”. As a result, the command generation unit 20 generates a shooting command and records an image on the image recording unit 16 via the recording timer 26. As a result, the vehicle 34 driven by the user is recorded in the electronic camera device 32 at the B position.

  If the amount of light at the shooting location at point B is insufficient, if the flash 24 is set in a mode for emitting light, light can be emitted according to a command from the command generating means 20 and a clearer picture can be taken. it can.

  In addition, by setting the recording timer 26 to an arbitrary value, not only a high-speed automobile 34 but also a low-speed bicycle, a pedestrian, and the like can shoot at an optimal camera angle.

  Further, continuous shooting can be performed by using a continuous shooting and moving image shooting function (not shown).

  FIG. 3 shows a timing chart of the above photographing operation example. FIG. 4A shows the timing when the shooting start button 14 is pressed, and FIG. 4B shows the image pickup operation in the image pickup means 10. The Hi state is a state during image pickup. FIG. 4C shows the timing of image signal capture by the image signal capture means 12, which is captured in the Hi state.

  In the figure, first, when the photographing start button 14 is pressed at the timing shown in FIG. 5A, the start timer 22 starts measuring time until a predetermined time t1 elapses. During this time t1, even if there is a photographer in the photographing field angle range (C in FIG. 2) of the imaging means 10, the movement is not detected. That is, false detection prevention is performed. Then, after the predetermined time t1 has elapsed, the imaging means 10 starts the imaging operation as shown in FIG. 3B, and at the same time, the image signal capturing means 12 intermittently outputs the image signal as shown in FIG. 3C. Start importing.

  In FIG. 3, A1 to B schematically show images captured by the image signal capturing means 12, A1 to A4 represent images in a state where there is no movement within the field angle range, and B represents a field angle. It shows an image when movement occurs within the range. In the present embodiment, when A1 is captured and A2 is captured next, image comparison with A1 is performed. Since the image is not changed, the command generation unit 20 does not record an image on the image recording unit 16. Similarly, even when A3 and A4 are captured, the image is not recorded in the image recording means 16 because there is no change in the image. When the next image B is captured, the image movement can be detected by comparison with A4, so that the command generation unit 20 records the image B to the image recording unit 16 via the recording timer 26. To control.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the movement (change) of the photographed image is monitored, and if there is a movement in the image, the photographing is automatically started to perform automatic photographing of the moving object. Can do. Further, since the configuration of the present embodiment can be provided inside an electronic camera device such as a digital camera, for example, the portability is superior to the configuration of Patent Document 1 described above.

  In addition, since the start timer 22 is provided, it is possible to avoid the problem that the photographer is mistakenly photographed because the photographing is started after a predetermined time elapses after the photographing start button 14 is pressed.

  In addition, the signal comparison unit 18 performs the comparison before and after the time axis direction of the image captured by the image signal capture unit 12, but the comparison range in the image may be the entire angle of view of the image, As shown in FIG. 4, the shape may be limited to a predetermined range at the center. If a method for detecting an image change in a predetermined range in the central portion is used as described above, the image finally recorded in the image recording means 16 can be photographed (recorded) so that the subject is positioned substantially at the center. It becomes like this.

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera device capable of automatically photographing a moving subject, and is effective when used for a consumer / business digital still camera or other photographing devices.

Operation block diagram of an electronic camera device according to the present invention Operation explanatory diagram of the electronic camera device of the same implementation Timing chart in the same embodiment Schematic diagram showing an example of image comparison range in the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

12 Image signal capturing means 16 Image recording means 18 Signal comparing means 20 Command generating means

Claims (5)

Image capturing means for converting an optical image into an electrical signal, image signal capturing means for capturing an image signal from the image capturing means at regular intervals, and an image signal captured by the image signal capturing means were captured once before Signal comparing means for comparing with an image signal, command generating means for issuing a next operation command corresponding to the state of the signal compared by the signal comparing means, and an image for recording a video in response to a command from the command generating means An electronic camera device comprising recording means. 2. The electronic camera apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the command generation means is configured to arbitrarily set a time until the image recording means records an image. 2. The electronic camera apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the command generating means is configured to instruct the image recording means to record an image and to operate an auxiliary issuing means such as a strobe. 2. The electronic camera apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the signal comparison means is configured to start the signal comparison operation after a lapse of a predetermined time after operating the photographing start button means of the electronic camera apparatus. 2. The electronic camera device according to claim 1, wherein the image recording means is provided with an operation state for continuously recording images.

Images