JP2006261989A - Camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera system which can be urged to cleaning to a user, when the main part of a camera is equipped with a camera head or even in use, while enabling the contact check for connection. <P>SOLUTION: When a camera head 1a is mounted in a main part 1b of a camera, a contact check is performed as an initialization processing. A main part CPU100b by the side of the main part 1b of the camera transmits a request-to-send of a test signal by using three wire serial interface driven by a three wire serial driver so that a test signal generated by a test signal generation part 110 may be made to supply to the main part 1b of the camera, by making a head CPU19a switch to a signal switching part 111. The main part CPU100b performs a contact check of an interface in response to the test signal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera system including a camera head including a photographing optical system and an image sensor, and a camera body on which the camera head is detachably mounted and receives an image signal from the camera head and performs signal processing.

  In recent years, in a device equipped with a control microcomputer, a rewritable ROM such as an EEPROM is provided in the device, and a rewriting tool such as a personal computer is connected without replacing the ROM one by one. Many programs can be rewritten. In the case of such an apparatus, the program in the EERPOM is rewritten by connecting the rewriting tool to a connection terminal for connecting the rewriting tool exposed to the outside. If this connection contact is exposed to the outside, it is expected that a contact failure will occur due to dust etc., so when you try to rewrite the program by connecting a rewrite tool to the connection contact in the EEPROM In some cases, the inspection program is activated to check the connection contact (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  By the way, when a plug-in unit in which an image sensor and a photographing optical system are integrated is attached to a camera body, information on the plug-in unit is transmitted to the camera body side, and the photographing optical system provided in the plug-in unit is provided. There has been proposed a camera system that enables photographing with (see Patent Document 2). When a camera system that replaces the photographic optical system, that is, the photographic lens, is realized simply by attaching the plug-in unit to the camera body, the handling of the camera system becomes very simple, and specialized knowledge can be obtained. Even those who do not have it can easily exchange the photographic lens. Similarly, there is a camera system including a camera head including a photographing optical system and an image sensor, and a camera body that is detachably mounted and receives an image signal from the camera head and performs signal processing (for example, (See Patent Document 3).

As described above, such a camera system is expected to have a wide demand including not only a skilled person who has used an interchangeable lens until now but also a beginner who is unfamiliar with photographing. However, even a skilled person who uses an interchangeable lens, even if it is natural to clean the contact parts on both the camera head and the camera body before attaching the camera head to the camera body, There are many people who think that shooting can be done at any time, as long as it is attached without cleaning the contact portion. It may be noticed that a user close to a beginner has performed a photographing operation, and dust has adhered to the contact point, resulting in poor contact. Also, poor contact may occur during use.
JP-A-9-197464 JP-A-8-172561 JP 2000-175089 A

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a camera system capable of checking a contact for connection even when a camera head is mounted on a camera body or during use.

The camera system of the present invention that achieves the above object receives an image signal from a camera head having a photographing optical system and an image sensor and an interface for inputting and outputting signals between the camera head and the camera head. In a camera system equipped with a camera body,
The camera head has a test signal generator for supplying a test signal from the camera head to the camera body via the interface when the camera head is mounted on the camera body. ,
The camera body receives a test signal sent from the camera head via the interface, and whether the interface functions normally according to the reception state of the test signal received by the receiver. It is characterized by comprising a determination unit for determining whether or not, and a notification unit for notifying the determination result by the determination unit to the user.

  According to the camera system of the present invention, when the camera head is attached to the camera body, including when the camera head is attached to the camera body, the test signal generator of the camera head The test signal is supplied to the camera body, and the determination unit on the camera body side receives the test signal and determines whether or not the interface is functioning normally. If it is determined by the determination unit that the interface is not functioning properly, a notification such as “Please clean” is sent to the user by voice or display. Done.

  That is, a camera system is realized in which the connection contact check can be performed even when the camera head is attached to the camera body or in use.

  In addition, a camera system that can prompt the user to perform cleaning when the interface contact failure is detected is also realized.

  Here, it is preferable that the camera head includes a signal switching unit that switches between an image signal obtained by the image sensor and a test signal generated by the test signal generation unit and transmits the signal to the interface.

  Then, a contact failure in the contact portion in the interface that transmits an image signal from the camera head to the camera body is detected. As a result, the occurrence of image signal transmission failure is significantly reduced.

  The test signal generator preferably supplies a test signal to the camera body when the camera head is mounted on the camera body.

  As described above, it is assumed that various camera heads are mounted and used on the camera body. Therefore, when the camera head is mounted on the camera body as described above, the camera body is tested. If a signal is supplied, contact failure is checked when the camera head is mounted on the camera body.

  Then, in the camera system of the present invention, the user can be urged to clean by voice or display. Therefore, when taking a picture using this camera system, in other words, to the user at the stage before taking a picture. On the other hand, cleaning can be urged.

   As described above, it is possible to realize a camera system that can perform contact check for connection even when the camera head is attached to the camera body and during use.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the external appearance of the camera system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a camera system 1 according to this embodiment includes a camera head 1a having a photographing optical system and an image sensor, and an interface for inputting / outputting signals between the camera head 1a. And a camera body 1b that receives an image signal from 1a. In FIG. 1, a plurality of camera heads 1 a having a photographing optical system and an image sensor and a camera body 1 b to which any one of the camera heads 1 a is detachably attached are separately shown. . In the camera system 1 of the present embodiment, each of the plurality of camera heads 1a to na has a test signal generation unit which will be described later, and when one of them is mounted on the camera body, the test signal is generated. In the following description, it is assumed that a test signal is supplied from the unit to the camera body through a high-speed interface (described later) for image signal transfer. In such a camera system, it is important how to transmit a large-capacity image signal generated by a high-pixel image sensor to the camera body in a short time through a high-speed interface, and shorten the transmission time. This is because the higher the frame rate, the more the image data will not be transmitted correctly if some of the contacts of the high-speed interfaces in both mounts 10a and 10b are even dirty. In the camera system 1 of the present embodiment, in addition to the high-speed interface, a low-speed interface for control signals is also provided. However, the low-speed interface operates at a low speed and operates normally even if it is slightly dirty. In the following description, it is assumed that many contact failures due to dirt occur on the high-speed interface due to the above reason.

  First, the configuration will be described.

  In the center of the camera body 1b shown in FIG. 1, a mount portion 10b having a large number of mount contacts is provided, and a similar mount portion is also provided on the camera head 1a side. When the camera head 1a is mounted on the camera main body 1b along the alternate long and short dash line in the drawing so that the positions of a large number of mount contacts in the both mount parts respectively, the mount points are connected to each other and the camera head 1a is connected. And the camera body 1b are electrically connected to each other so that the camera system can be operated.

  Each of the mount contacts is assigned for communication and power supply, and communication from the camera body 1b to the camera head 1a is performed, or from the camera head 1a to the camera body 1b. In addition, power is supplied from the camera body 1b side to the camera head 1a side. Among these mount contacts, there are contacts corresponding to interfaces provided by both, contacts corresponding to two dedicated lines for supplying a release signal from the camera body to the camera head, and the like.

  An AWB sensor 11b is provided above the head mount 10b, and a light source type at the time of photographing is detected by the AWB sensor 11b. The light source type is, for example, whether it is sunlight or a fluorescent lamp, and this light source type is detected by the AWB sensor 11b and an appropriate color temperature (for example, sunlight) is detected in a digital signal processing unit described later. In this case, 6000 K is set, and in the case of a fluorescent lamp, 4500 K) is set, and the optimum white balance is adjusted. A flash light emission window 12b is provided beside the AWB sensor 11b, and a flash light emission unit 120b for emitting a flash light through the flash light emission window 12b is provided in the camera body 1b. Further, a release button 13b and a mode dial 14b are provided on the upper surface of the camera body 1b. The mode dial 14b selects a shooting mode and a playback mode. In the shooting mode, a still image shooting mode or a moving image shooting mode is further selected. The mode dial 14b is also provided with a power switch, and the power is turned on by operating the mode dial 14b.

  Here, the internal configuration of the camera head 1a and the camera body 1b will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electrical system when the camera head 1a is mounted on the camera body 1b.

  The configuration of the camera head 1a is shown on the upper side of FIG. 2, and the configuration of the camera body 1b is shown on the lower side of FIG.

  Before describing the internal configuration of both the camera head 1a and the camera body 1b, the configuration around the battery, which is a power supply source for operating the camera system 1, will be described.

  The camera system 1 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the camera body 1b and the camera head 1a operate in response to power supplied from a battery Bt included in the camera body.

  In this example, the power supply control unit 140b includes a latch unit 160b in order to notify the main body CPU 100b that comprehensively controls the operation of the camera main body 1b that the camera head 1a is mounted. By rewriting the content, the content of the I / O unit 161b on the main body CPU 100b side connected to the latch unit 160b is rewritten to notify the main body CPU 100b that the camera head 1a is mounted.

  With such a configuration, the main body CPU 100b controls the three-wire serial driver 151b when detecting that the camera head 1a is attached to the camera main body due to rewriting of the contents of the I / O unit 161b. A test signal can be transmitted to the head CPU 19a using a 3-wire serial interface, and the test is performed by switching the signal switching unit 111 to the head CPU 19a on the camera head 1a side that has received the transmission request. The test signal from the signal generation unit 110 can be supplied to the camera body 1b through the signal switching unit 111 and the high-speed serial driver 150a. Then, the contact of the high-speed interface for image transfer in the mount unit, which is driven by the high-speed serial driver 150b when the camera head 1a is attached to the camera body 1b, can be checked. In this example, the main body CPU 100b corresponds to the determination section referred to in the present invention, and the high-speed serial driver 150b on the camera main body 1b side corresponds to the reception section referred to in the present invention.

  If this check does not detect a contact failure at a large number of contacts of the high-speed serial interface, and the power-on mode is the shooting mode, the main body CPU 100b then sends a through image transmission request to the camera head 1a. The head CPU 19a that has received the transmission request controls the aperture / focus / zoom control unit 17a to the image pickup device (herein, a CCD solid-state image pickup device is used, and hence the CCD) 12a. Generation of an image signal representing a through image at a predetermined frame rate can be started.

  When a contact failure is detected by the contact check at the time of mounting, the main body CPU 100b controls the LCD control unit 105b to control the LCD 1050b to display a warning message such as “clean” on the panel of the LCD. To prompt the user to clean. When the camera head is mounted again after being cleaned in response to this prompt, the contact check by the test signal is performed again. The main body CPU 100b, the LCD control unit 105b, and the LCD 1050b correspond to a notification unit according to the present invention.

  The configuration and operation of a camera system that operates by supplying power from the battery Bt on the camera body 1b side to the camera body 1b and the camera head 1a will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the camera head 1a constituting the camera system 1 includes a photographing optical system 11a and a CCD 12a. In the photographing optical system 11a, a photographing lens, a diaphragm, and the like are provided, and the subject is imaged on the CCD 12a by the photographing lens with the diaphragm being a predetermined opening.

  As described above, the head CPU 19a receives a test signal transmission request transmitted from the camera body 1b via the three-wire serial interface when the camera head 1a is attached to the camera body 1b. By switching, the test signal generator 110 supplies the test signal to the camera body through the signal switching unit 111 and the high-speed interface driven by the high-speed serial driver 150a. When the contact check is performed on the camera body 1b side due to the supply of this test signal and no contact failure is detected, a through image transmission request is received next and the diaphragm / focus / zoom control unit 17a is instructed to drive the CCD 12a. First, the mode is switched to the through image mode. Further, the through image mode is set for the TG 18a, and the CCD 12a is driven at the frame rate of 1/30 s to cause the TG 18a to output a through image signal. The through image signal thus generated in the CCD 12a is output to the analog signal processing unit 13a at a frame rate of every 1/30 s, and the analog signal processing unit 13a is further subjected to noise reduction processing and the like. The D section 14a converts the analog through image signal into a digital through image signal and supplies it to the high-speed serial driver 150a. A through image signal, which is a digital signal, is transmitted to the main body of the camera 1b by a high-speed serial interface driven by the high-speed serial driver 150a. Of course, since the high-speed serial driver 150b for driving the high-speed serial interface is also provided on the camera body 1b side, the high-speed serial interface is driven by both drivers to transmit the image signal. Among the image signals supplied to the camera body 1b through the high-speed serial interface, the subject captured by the photographic lens in the photographic optical system when one of the photographic modes is selected by the mode dial 14b. Represents a still image obtained by operating the release button 13b when the through image signal for displaying on the LCD panel (not shown) or the still image shooting mode in the shooting mode is selected. Three types of image signals (hereinafter referred to as “moving image signals”) and image signals (hereinafter referred to as “moving image signals”) representing moving images obtained by operating the release button 13b when the moving image mode in the shooting mode is selected. There is an image signal. Any one of these image signals is transmitted to the camera body through the high-speed serial interface in response to a request from the camera body 1b.

  On the other hand, the image signal converted into a digital signal by the A / D unit 14a is also supplied to an integration circuit 16a provided at a subsequent stage of the A / D unit 14a. The integrating circuit 16a performs a photometric function (hereinafter referred to as AE) and a distance measuring function (hereinafter referred to as AF). The field luminance is measured by the AE of the integrating circuit 16a, and the subject distance is measured by the AF. Is done.

  In this manner, the subject distance and the field luminance are measured by the integrating circuit 16a, and the measurement results are supplied to the aperture / focus / zoom control unit 17a via the data bus 192a, and the aperture / focus / zoom control unit 17a. As a result, the diameter of the diaphragm in the photographing optical system is adjusted, and the position of the focus lens in the photographing optical system is adjusted. In this way, every time the lens in the photographic optical system of the camera head 1a is directed to a different subject, AF and AE in the integration circuit work to adjust the focus and brightness, and the subject in focus Is generated by the CCD 12a and output from the CCD 12a.

  The head CPU 19a controls the TG 18a and the aperture / focus / zoom control unit 17a according to the procedure of the program stored in the system memory 190a. Software indicating a processing procedure (including contact check of the interface), a processing procedure for AE processing and AF processing, a processing procedure for communication through a serial interface, and the like are stored. In this software, the shooting mode is selected by the mode dial, and the software related to the through image display processing, the software related to the still image processing, and the moving image shooting activated when the still image shooting mode is selected. There is also software related to moving image processing that is activated when a mode is selected. According to these processing procedures, the head CPU 19a controls the initialization of the camera head and the signal processing operation of each part after the initialization. Among these operations are the contact check operation, the integration circuit 16a operation, the TG 18a operation, the read / write operation of the nonvolatile memory 191a, the 3-wire serial driver 151a operation, the high-speed serial driver 150a operation, etc. There is also.

  The nonvolatile memory 191a also stores configuration information and signal processing software for the camera head 1a. When a command indicating a request for transmission of configuration information is transmitted from the camera body 1b via the 3-wire serial interface, the configuration information and signal processing software in the nonvolatile memory 191a are transmitted via the 3-wire serial interface. And transmitted to the camera body 1b.

  The three-wire serial interface also exchanges commands between the camera body 1b and the camera head 1a during shooting. For example, an image signal (through image signal, still image signal, video signal) is transmitted from the camera body 1b. When a command corresponding to one of the transmission requests is transmitted via the 3-wire serial interface, the image signal (through-through) converted to a digital signal by a high-speed serial interface that is faster than the 3-wire serial interface. Any one of an image signal, a still image signal, and a moving image signal) is transmitted to the camera body 1b.

  Such a camera head 1a is attached to the camera body 1b to form a camera system 1, and photographing is performed by the camera system 1.

  From here, the operation of the camera body 1b when the camera head 1a is attached to the camera body 1b will be described.

  The operation of the camera body 1b is centrally controlled by the body CPU 100b according to the procedure of the program in the system memory 101b as in the camera head side. When the camera head 1a is mounted on the camera main body 1b controlled by the main body CPU 100b and the power is turned on, the main CPU 100b transitions to a controllable state and the head CPU 19a also transitions to a controllable state. The operation of the entire system 1 is controlled.

  In the camera system 1 of this embodiment, when power is supplied to the camera head 1a and the camera body 1b from the battery Bt on the camera body side as described above, first, the body CPU 100b controls the 3-wire serial driver 151b to control the camera head. A test signal transmission request is made on the side. When a test signal is transmitted in response to the transmission request, the main body CPU 100b receives the test signal via the high-speed serial driver 150b and the bus, and the test signal is the same as, for example, the test signal in the nonvolatile memory 102b. A determination is made as to whether or not there is. If it is determined that the interface is the same, it is assumed that the interface driven by the high-speed serial driver 150a is functioning normally. Next, a command representing a request for transmitting a through image signal is driven by the 3-wire serial driver 151b. It is transmitted to the camera head 1a through a line serial interface. In response to the through image transmission request, the head CPU 19a on the camera head side instructs the aperture / focus / zoom control unit 17a to switch the drive mode of the CCD 12a and the timing generator 18a to the through image mode. After switching to the through image drive mode, the through image signal is successively transmitted to the camera body 1b through the high-speed serial interface driven by the high-speed serial drivers 150a and 150b in accordance with the timing signal from the TG 18a.

  Through image signals transmitted one after another to the camera body 1b through this high-speed serial interface are supplied to the digital signal processing unit 103b, and the digital signal processing unit 103b performs signal processing according to the configuration information of the camera head. After being applied one after another, it is sequentially stored in the frame memory 104b. YC signals stored at a predetermined frame rate in the frame memory 104b are successively supplied to the LCD control unit 105b, and the LCD control unit 105b displays a through image on the LCD 1050b panel at predetermined intervals (for example, every 33 ms). Are switched and displayed.

  Here, when the user presses the release button 13b while viewing a through image on the display screen of the LCD 1050b, a release signal is supplied to the main body CPU 100b and a release signal is also supplied to the head CPU 19a. Since the release button 13b provided in the camera body 1b constituting this camera system has two operation modes of half-press and full-press, the head CPU 19a changes the drive mode of the CCD 12a and the TG 18a to AE in response to the half-press. The mode is further switched to the AF mode in sequence, and the timing signal corresponding to the mode is supplied from the TG 18a to the CCD 12a to output the image signal to the integrating circuit 16a at a high frame rate. By doing this, it becomes possible to supply image signals of a large number of frame images to the integration circuit at a high frame rate, so that the integration circuit can complete photometry and distance measurement in a short time. Become.

  In response to full press, the CCD 12a starts exposure, and then the CCD 12a and the TG 18a are switched to the all-pixel reading mode. After a predetermined time has elapsed, an exposure end signal and all-pixel reading are sent to the TG 18a. For this reason, a driving signal is supplied.

  The image signal read from the CCD 12a in this way is supplied to the digital signal processing unit 103b of the camera body 1b via the high-speed serial interface, and after the image signal is subjected to predetermined processing by the digital signal processing unit, the card An image signal subjected to a predetermined process is recorded on the memory card 108b in the memory card slot 107b by the I / F 106b.

  FIG. 2 also shows a flash unit 121b that emits a flash when it is determined that the object scene is dark by photometry in the AE mode, and a flash control unit 120b that emits the flash, and in addition, an AWB sensor 11b. In addition, a timer 110b for measuring time, a calendar clock unit 111b, and the like are also illustrated. Also, in the system memory where the program is stored, as with the camera head side, a description of a program indicating the procedure of initialization processing, a program relating to a contact check mode for executing a contact check by operating a menu button (not shown), etc. is there.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the contact check process performed by the main body CPU 100b.

  The processing of this flow is started when the camera head 1a is attached to the camera body 1b, or when the contact check mode is designated by the selection menu by operation.

  In this example, when the initialization program including the description of the contact check mode is activated when the camera head 1a is attached to the camera body 1b, and the initialization process proceeds to the contact check mode in the initialization program. The processing after step S301 will be described below.

  First, if initialization is advanced to the contact check mode in step S301 and it is determined as Yes, the process proceeds to the next step S302, and in step S302, a code indicating a test signal transmission request is controlled by controlling the 3-wire serial interface. Send to.

  When the head CPU 19a on the camera head side receives the code indicating the transmission request and switches the signal switching unit 111 to the test signal generation unit 110 side and the test signal is supplied to the camera body 1b side, the test signal is sent to the high-speed serial driver. 150b, received via the bus 100b, proceeds to the next step S303. If it is determined in step S303 that there is an error, the process proceeds to the Yes side, and a message indicating that cleaning is necessary is displayed on the LCD panel. If it is determined in step S303 that there is no error, the process proceeds to the No side and no error is displayed in step S.

  As described above, when the contact check is performed when the camera head 1a is mounted on the camera body 1b, cleaning can be urged during the camera head replacement operation. In addition, since this camera system has a configuration in which the contact check mode can be designated by operation, the process of the above flow can also be executed at any time by designating the contact check mode from the selection menu.

  That is, it is possible to realize a camera system that can perform contact check for connection even when the camera head is attached to the camera body or during use, and can prompt the user to perform cleaning.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment.

  In FIG. 4, for example, if the camera head na in the camera heads 1a to na shown in FIG. 1 does not have the test signal generator 110, the contact check cannot be performed. An example in which a determination step S402 is added so as to be able to deal with the case is shown.

  Here, in step S401, parameter communication is performed with the camera head using a three-wire serial interface. This parameter communication refers to communication that is performed in order to grasp the capability of the camera head by reading a parameter indicating the capability of the camera head on the camera body side. In this flow, it is determined whether there is a parameter related to the contact check mode among the parameters obtained by communication in the next step S402.

  If it is determined in step S402 that the contact check mode is present, the same processing as in steps S302 to S305 in FIG. 3 is performed in steps S403 to S406. If it is determined in step S402 that there is no contact check mode, the process proceeds to No and the power is turned off to end the processing of this flow.

  In this way, the contact check mode is not executed for the camera head 1n that does not have the test signal generator 110, and an execution error is prevented from occurring when trying to execute the contact check mode. In addition, when a camera head that does not have a test signal generator is mounted on the camera body in this way, a display prompting cleaning is displayed on the display screen according to the reception state of the image data during shooting after mounting. Can be done.

  As described above, it is possible to realize a camera system that can perform contact check for connection even when the camera head is attached to the camera body and during use, and can prompt the user to perform cleaning.

It is a figure which shows the camera system which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of an electric system when the camera head 1a exists in the state with which the camera main body 1b was mounted | worn. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the contact check which main body CPU performs. It is another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera system 1A 1B 1C Dedicated line 1a Camera head 100a Power supply control part 101a DC / DC converter 11a Imaging optical system 12a CCD
13a Analog signal processing unit 14a A / D unit 150a High-speed serial driver 151a 3-wire serial driver 16a Integration circuit 17a Aperture / focus / zoom control unit 18a TG
19a Head CPU
110 signal switching unit 111 test signal generating unit 190a system memory (ROM / RAM)
191a Non-volatile memory 192a Data bus 1b Camera body 10b Head mount 100b Body CPU
101b System memory 102b Non-volatile memory 103b Digital signal processing unit 104b Frame memory 105b LCD control unit 1050b LCD
106b Card I / F
107b Memory card slot 108b Memory card 150b High-speed serial driver 151b 3-wire serial driver

Claims (3)

In a camera system including a camera head including a photographing optical system and an image sensor, and a camera body that receives an image signal from the camera head via an interface that inputs and outputs signals between the camera head,
The camera head includes a test signal generator that supplies a test signal from the camera head to the camera body via the interface when the camera head is mounted on the camera body. ,
The camera body receives a test signal sent from the camera head via the interface, and whether the interface functions normally according to the reception state of the test signal received by the receiver A camera system comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not; and a notification unit that notifies a determination result by the determination unit to a user.   The camera according to claim 1, wherein the camera head includes a signal switching unit that switches between an image signal obtained by an image sensor and a test signal generated by the test signal generation unit and transmits the signal to the interface. system.   2. The camera system according to claim 1, wherein the test signal generator supplies a test signal to the camera body in response to the camera head being mounted on the camera body.

Images